Astronomy Picture of the Day

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

2003 February 3
See Explanation.  Clicking on the picture will download
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Space Shuttle and Crew Lost During Re-Entry
Credit: STS-107 Crew, NASA

Explanation: Saturday morning, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry. Pictured above is the seven-member crew that was lost. True space pioneers, they were, left to right, David M. Brown, Rick D. Husband, Laurel B. Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, William C. McCool, and Ilan Ramon. As debris from the shuttle may be toxic, NASA asks that anything found be reported immediately to local authorities and not touched. For the safety of future missions, investigations into the cause of the tragedy are underway. If you have any video or photographs that may aid in these investigations, NASA asks that you please see this web page, call (US) 281-483-3388, or send e-mail to columbiaimages@nasa.gov.

Tomorrow's picture: Wisps of Veil


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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Technical Rep.: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& NASA SEU Edu. Forum
& Michigan Tech. U.