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Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' ( in NASA 's orbital fleet. Its first mission, STS-1 , lasted from April 12 to April 14 , 1981 . On February 1 , 2003 , ''Columbia'' disintegrated during re-entry on its 28th mission; all seven crew members aboard were killed (see Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster ). HISTORY Construction began on ''Columbia'' in 1975 primarily in Palmdale , California . ''Columbia'' was named after the Boston -based Sloop ''Columbia'' captained by American Robert Gray , which explored the Pacific Northwest and became the first American vessel to circumnavigate the world; the name also honored ''Columbia'', the Command Module of '' Apollo 11 ''. After construction, the orbiter arrived at John F. Kennedy Space Center on March 25 , 1979 to prepare for its first launch. On March 19 , 1981 during preparations for a ground test, Five Workers Were Asphyxiated during a Nitrogen purge, resulting in two deaths. The first flight of ''Columbia'' ( STS-1 ) was commanded by John Young (a space veteran from the Gemini and Apollo eras) and piloted by Robert Crippen , a rookie who had never been in space before, but who served as a support crew member for the Skylab missions and Apollo-Soyuz . It launched April 12 , 1981 and returned April 14 , 1981 after orbiting the earth 36 times. In 1983, ''Columbia'' undertook its first operational mission ( STS-9 ) with 6 astronauts, including the first non-American astronaut on a space shuttle, Ulf Merbold . On January 12 , 1986 ''Columbia'' took off with the first Hispanic American astronaut, Dr. Franklin R. Chang-Diaz , as well as the first sitting member of the House Of Representatives in space, Bill Nelson . Another first was announced on March 5 , 1998 when NASA named U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins as commander of a future ''Columbia'' mission — making Collins the first female commander of a space shuttle mission. , the first shuttle mission.]] PROTOTYPE ORBITER ''Columbia'', unlike her operational sister ships, was built with the technologies that were available at the time of her construction in Palmdale in the mid-1970's. One major difference between ''Columbia'' and later shuttles was the use of heavier-weight spars in the orbiter's wings and fuselage. Thus, despite improvements over the course of her lifetime, ''Columbia'' would never weigh as little unloaded as the orbiters in the current fleet (''Challenger'', despite improvements during her conversion from the Structural Test Article into an operational orbiter, was also heavy, although it was 10,000 lb. lighter). Externally, ''Columbia'' was the only orbiter in the fleet that originally had an all-tile Thermal Protection System (TPS) . The all-tile TPS would later be modified to incorporate felt insulation blankets on the fuselage and upper wing surfaces — work that was performed during Columbia's first retrofitting and the post-Challenger stand-down. Also unique to ''Columbia'' were the black "chines" on the shuttle's upper wing surfaces. These black areas were part of Columbia's wing design to distinguish it from ''Enterprise'', and also because the first shuttle's designers did not know how reentry heating would affect the craft's upper wing surfaces. Until its last refit, ''Columbia'' was the only operational orbiter with wing markings consisting of an American flag on the left wing and the letters "USA" on the right. From its last refit to its destruction, ''Columbia'' bore markings identical to those of its sister orbiters — the NASA "meatball" Logo on the left wing and the American flag and "Columbia" designation on the right. Another unique external feature, termed the "SILTS" pod, was located on the top of ''Columbia's'' tailfin, and was installed after STS-9 to acquire infrared and other thermal data. Though the pod's equipment was removed after initial tests, NASA decided to leave it in place, as the agency had plans to use it for future experiments. The tailfin was later modified to incorporate the drag chute first used on ''Endeavour'' in 1992. Internally, ''Columbia'' was originally fitted with Lockheed-Martin -built ejection seats identical to those found on the SR-71 Blackbird . These seats were active on the initial series of orbital test flights, but were deactivated after STS-4 and were removed entirely after STS-9 . ''Columbia'' was also the only orbiter not delivered with Heads-up Display s for the pilot and copilot, although these were incorporated after STS-9. Like its sister ships, ''Columbia'' was eventually retrofitted (at its last refit) with the new MEDS "glass cockpit" display and lightweight seats. Unlike the other orbiters, ''Columbia'' retained an internal airlock, but was fitted to accept the external airlock and docking adapter needed for flights to the International Space Station . This retention of an internal airlock allowed NASA to use ''Columbia'' for the last Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, along with the Spacehab double module used on STS-107 . If ''Columbia'' had not been destroyed, it would have been fitted with an external airlock for mission STS-118, an International Space Station assembly mission, in November, 2003. FINAL MISSION ]] ''Main articles:'' STS-107 , Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' Disaster On its final mission, the craft was carrying the first Israel i astronaut, Ilan Ramon , and the first female astronaut of India n birth, Kalpana Chawla . Other crew members on the final flight included Rick Husband (commander), Willie McCool (pilot), Michael P. Anderson , Laurel Clark , and David M. Brown . On the morning of February 1 , 2003 , the shuttle re-entered the atmosphere after a 16-day scientific mission. NASA lost radio contact at about 0900. EST , only minutes before the expected 0916 landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida . Video recordings show the craft breaking up in flames over Texas , at an altitude of approximately 39 miles (63 km) and a speed of 12,500 mph (5.6 km/s). In the months following the tragedy, NASA scientists determined that a hole was punctured in the leading edge on one of ''Columbia's'' wings, made of a carbon-carbon Composite . The hole had formed when a piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank peeled off during the launch 16 days earlier, puncturing the edge of the wing. Hot gases, referred to by many reports as Plasma , penetrated the interior of the wing, destroying the support structure and causing the rest of the shuttle to break apart during the intense heat of re-entry. (The use of the word "plasma" to describe the gases that entered the wing is not technically accurate, according to NASA and Boeing aero-thermal engineers who support the Space Shuttle program at the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. They pointed out during the Columbia accident investigations that atmospheric entry heating and its intrusion into damaged left wing was from superheated air, not ionized gas and not plasma, though this technicality has largely been ignored by the media.) The collected debris of the vessel is currently stored on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center ; recovered items are occasionally loaned for research into the Hypersonic flight regime. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has vowed that Columbia will not be sealed away as the debris from the ''Challenger'' was. The debris from '' Challenger '' is permanently entombed in two Minuteman Missile silos at KSC. FLIGHTS Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' flew 28 flights, spent 300.74-days in space, completed 4,808 orbits, and flew 125,204,911 miles in total, including its final mission. . The original white-painted external tank, as well as ''Columbia's'' distinctive black chines, are clearly visible]] TRIVIA
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