Click2Disasters - Columbia Disaster - External Tank Insulation - Chapter 6

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>COLUMBIA DISASTER</p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 6 - EXTERNAL TANK INSULATION</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">During launch, an <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/images/et_1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>external fuel tank</b></a> is positioned <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/images/medium/KSC-02PD-1880.jpg" target="_blank"><b>between</b></a> the two solid rocket boosters. Although the <a href="http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/images/srb_16.jpg" target="_blank"><b>boosters</b></a> are recovered and reused after liftoff, the external tank (which has been sprayed with <a href="http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/F-15B/Small/EC99-44861-4.jpg" target="_blank"><b>foam insulation</b></a>) is neither recovered nor reused. Instead, it is jettisoned into a remote area of the ocean where it breaks apart.</p> <p>Before it was used on any of the shuttles, the external tank <a href="http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/F-15B/Small/EC99-44862-11.jpg" target="_blank"><b>insulation</b></a> was <a href="http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/F-15B/Small/EC99-44861-1.jpg" target="_blank"><b>tested</b></a> in-<a href="http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/F-15B/Small/EC99-44862-12.jpg" target="_blank"><b>flight</b></a> on an F-15B.</p> <p>It is insulation of that type which broke loose from the external fuel tank and impacted <i>Columbia’s</i> left wing eighty seconds after liftoff on January 16, 2003.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="columbia_disaster_ch5.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="columbia_disaster_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="columbia_disaster_ch7.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>