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The Columbia Accident Investigation and Returning NASA's Space Shuttle to Flight
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart during reentry, resulting in loss of the vehicle and its seven crew members. Over the next several months, an extensive investigation of the accident took place, involving a nationwide team of experts from NASA, industry, and academia that spanned dozens of technical disciplines. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), a group of experts assembled to conduct an investigation independent of NASA, concluded in August 2003 that the most likely cause of the loss of Columbia and its crew was a breach in the left wing leading-edge Reinforced Carbon-Carbon (RCC) thermal protection system. The breach was initiated by the impact of thermal insulating foam that had separated from the orbiter's external fuel tank 81 seconds into the mission's launch. During reentry, this breach allowed superheated air to penetrate behind the leading edge and erode the aluminum structure of the left wing, which ultimately led to the breakup of the orbiter. The findings of the CAIB were supported by ballistic impact tests, which simulated the physics of external tank foam impact on the RCC wing leading-edge material. These tests ranged from fundamental material characterization tests to full-scale orbiter wing leading edge tests.
Following the accident investigation, NASA spent the next 18 months focused on returning the shuttle safely to flight. In order to fully evaluate all potential impact threats from the many debris sources during ascent, NASA instituted a significant impact-testing program. The results from these tests led to the validation of high-fidelity computer models capable of predicting actual or potential shuttle impact events. These models were used in the certification of STS-114, NASA's Return to Flight Mission, as safe to fly.
Matthew Melis served for nearly five years as technical lead of the NASA Glenn Ballistic Impact Team for both the Columbia Accident Investigation and NASA's Return to Flight program. In a presentation rich with imagery and high-speed motion pictures, Mr. Melis will provide a look into the inner workings of the space shuttle and a behind-the-scenes perspective on the impact analysis and testing conducted to identify the cause of the Columbia accident and enhance safety for NASA's future shuttle missions. In addition, highlights from recent shuttle missions will be presented.
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author = {Matthew Melis},
title = {The Columbia Accident Investigation and Returning {NASA{\textquoteright}s} Space Shuttle to Flight},
booktitle = {2008 USENIX Annual Technical Conference (USENIX ATC 08)},
year = {2008},
address = {Boston, MA},
url = {https://www.usenix.org/conference/2008-usenix-annual-technical-conference/columbia-accident-investigation-and-returning},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = jun
}
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