PPE: Respirator Usage and Safety. A respirator is a personal protective device that is worn on the face. It covers the nose and mouth and is specifically designed to provide respiratory protection by forming a tight seal against the wearerâs skin. Respirators vary in their level of protection and efficiency to filter out airborne particles.
In 2003, Columbia disintegrated over Texas while returning from a 16-day trip to space. Later analysis found that a small bit of foam insulation that broke off an external fuel tank during launch had torn a hole in the orbiter's wing and led to the disaster. Gene Grush recounts the events from NASA's perspective.
The Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters were perhaps two of the most prominent reminders of how crucial it is that everything work just right for a spacecraft to travel to space and successfully return back to Earth.ne of the problems of getting a spacecraft to another planet is that we first have to get it out of Earth's orbit, explained Engelund. So we have to speed it up to a high enough velocity to break [free of] the Earth's gravity field.