On Sunday morning, October 9, 1994, David Richards stands on the airport runway before Space Shuttle Columbia and its carrier at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas, near the Johnson Space Center. Columbia sits atop the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft on a routine stop at Ellington on its way to scheduled modification and refurbishment at Rockwell's Palmdale, CA plant, near Edwards AFB, CA. Columbia had completed mission STS-65, landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 0638 EDT July 23. The orbiter was Loaded aboard the 747 and the flight had departed KSC for California October 8, 1994. Columbia was returned to KSC in 1995 with STS-73 its next scheduled flight.
While major systems tested successfully on the first flight of the Space Transportation System, the orbiter sustained tile damage on launch and from overpressure wave created by solid rocket boosters.
Subsequent modifications to the water sound suppression system eliminated the problem. Sixteen tiles were lost and 148 damaged.
Flight information from NASA:
Columbia Mission STS-1
Flight information from NASA: Columbia Mission STS-65
On Columbia's final mission, STS-107, the orbiter disintegrated on reentry resulting in the loss of the vessel and its crew.
Flight information from NASA:
Columbia STS-107
