Columbia disaster, orbital science experiments. Footage of science experiments that were carried out in Earth orbit by members of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia on mission STS-107 (16 January to 1 February 2003). This mission ended in tragedy when the shuttle broke up on re-entry on 1 February 2003 due to damage sustained during the launch, killing all seven on board. The members of the crew were US astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson and Laurel Clark, and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon. Some science data survived the disaster. During this mission, the crew carried out around 80 experiments. A culture of Caenorhabditis elegans worms, living in petri dishes enclosed in aluminum canisters, was recovered from the ground several weeks later. |