Recently in Columbia Category

Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center Opens in Downey, California, Challenger Center for Space Science Education

"The Columbia Memorial Space Science Learning Center opens today in Downey, California. The facility is a memorial to the crews of both the space shuttle Columbia, lost in 2003, and Challenger, lost in 1986. Among the Center's diverse program offerings will be a Challenger Learning Center, where students will fly simulated space missions. The Downey location joins 46 other locations in the growing international network of Challenger Learning Centers that fly hundreds of thousands of students every year."

Columbia: Thinking Back - Looking Ahead

"The ceremonies and dedications to the crew of Columbia were painful to the space community. But they were set along familiar themes that Americans have come to know as traditional. But on the day following the dedication, a memorial was held in Washington, DC which marked a wholly different national tradition. Several hundred invited guests gathered at the Embassy of Israel on that cold, wet night to remember Ilan Ramon. Daniel Ayalon, Israel's Ambassador to the United States began the event by recalling his pride at the launch of the mission. He talked of Ilan as the son of a holocaust survivor, a veteran of many dangerous missions in the defense of the Israeli nation, and the country's first astronaut. His story, he said, epitomized the story of Israel and the Jewish people. The entire country had been waiting for Columbia to return, and Ayalon said, the pain of its loss would always be with them."

NASA Report: Understanding Columbia's Loss, SpaceRef

"Accidents are things to be avoided. However, by the very nature of how we currently send humans into space and return them to Earth, there is a substantial amount of risk involved. Much of that risk has been identified and is manageable. But not all of it. Of course, when you hear this discussion, someone inevitably says that the only way to make these things risk free is not to do them.

Well, we have decided to do these risky things, now haven't we?"

NASA Space Shuttle and Constellation Program Actions Resulting From SCSIIT Recommendations

The Columbia Report, Part 1, FreeSpace, Discovery News
The Columbia Report, Part 2, FreeSpace, Discovery News
NASA releases post-Columbia crew survival study, Spaceflight Now
NASA: Columbia crew equipment didn't work well, NewsDay
NASA to change spacecraft due to Columbia tragedy, Huntsville Times
New Report on ’03 Disaster Details How Astronauts Died, NY Times
NASA faults equipment in Columbia shuttle disaster, CNN
Columbia crew had no chance, new NASA report says, Reuters
New Report Details Columbia Accident, Recommends Improvements, Universe Today
New NASA report details final minutes of Columbia, AP

NASA TV to Air Columbia Crew Remembrance Service

"NASA Television will provide live coverage of the Astronauts Memorial Foundation's remembrance service honoring space shuttle Columbia's STS-107 crew. The ceremony will be held at the Space Mirror Memorial on the NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at 10 a.m. EST on Feb. 1, the fifth anniversary of the Columbia accident."

Planetarium to Honor Life of Fallen Arlington Son - Captain David M. Brown

"The Arlington School Board unanimously approved a recommendation to name the Planetarium in honor of Captain David M. Brown. Captain Brown, a Yorktown High School graduate, died while serving as a mission specialist on the NASA Space Shuttle Columbia mission on February 1, 2003. In November 2007, Arlington Public Schools received a letter from Arlington resident George Wysor, a childhood friend and classmate of Brown's and an APS alumnus, requesting that the APS planetarium be renamed in memory of Captain Brown."

A Strong Push From Backstage, Washington Post

"When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 1, 2003, for example, Bush was consumed with concern for the families of the seven dead astronauts. That left Cheney to make the first critical decisions about the future of manned spaceflight. Even as the vice president and others were grappling with the invasion of Iraq, Cheney crafted a solution to the most pressing problem facing the space program, said former NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe, a Cheney protege."

NASA paid $26.6M to Columbia families, Orlando Sentinel

"NASA paid $26.6 million to the families of seven astronauts who died aboard space shuttle Columbia -- a settlement that has been kept secret for more than 21/2 years. The space agency recruited former FBI Director William Webster, also a former federal judge, to act as a mediator and adviser in negotiating the out-of-court settlements, according to documents released to the Orlando Sentinel through a federal Freedom of Information Act request."

Spacehab Dismisses RDM Claim With NASA

"SPACEHAB, Incorporated, a leading provider of commercial space services, today announced that the Company has filed for a formal dismissal with prejudice of all litigation against NASA relating to losses incurred by SPACEHAB as a result of the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia accident. In January 2004 the Company initiated a formal proceeding against NASA in which the Company was seeking damages in the amount of $87.7 million for the loss of its Research Double Module (RDM) as a result of the Columbia accident."

Like father, like son, ynetnews.com

"Assaf Ramon, son of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon, has applied to the Israel Air Force pilot training course, says he wants to follow in illustrious father's footsteps to outer space."

Lunar Crater Names for the Columbia Astronauts Provisionally Approved, U.S. Geological Survey

"Names for seven craters in the Apollo basin on the Moon have been provisionally approved by the IAU to honor the seven Space Shuttle Columbia astronauts."

Earlier posts

7 hills in Negev, Mitzpe Ramon, named after fallen Columbia astronauts, Israel Insider

Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: Thinking Back - Looking Ahead

"Our mission in space is not over," Rona Ramon told the hushed audience. "He was the first Israeli in space - that means there will be more."

Statue honors fallen hero (photo), Spokesman Review

"Spokane astronaut Michael P. Anderson has been eulogized as a humble, deeply religious and inspirational man who lived out his dream. For the past year, local artist Dorothy Fowler has used those descriptions to help her create an 8-foot-high, 600-pound bronze statue of Anderson."