Space Shuttle Columbia disaster "Somewhere" on their album "The Story" (2016); the song was dedicated to Laurel Clark (who had become a fan of the band during her Navy service in Scotland), and includes a piece of her wake up song, followed by some radio chatter, at the end. Space Shuttle Columbia disaster On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle "Columbia" disintegrated upon reentering Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program after Space Shuttle "Challenger", which broke apart and killed the seven-member crew 73 seconds after liftoff in 1986. During the launch
Space Shuttle program shuttle design that best balanced capability, development cost and operating cost. Ultimately chosen was a design using a reusable winged orbiter, reusable solid rocket boosters, and an expendable external fuel tank for the orbiter's main engines. The shuttle program was formally launched on January 5, 1972, when President Nixon announced that NASA would proceed with the development of a reusable space shuttle system. The stated goals of "transforming the space frontier...into familiar territory, easily accessible for human endeavor" was to be achieved by launching as many as 50 missions per year, with hopes of driving down per-mission costs. The prime