The United States’ space program saw its first fatality in over 17 years on Saturday as the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas.

Seven crewmembers were lost in the explosion, which occurred 39 miles over the Earth in the final 16 minutes of its mission. On the crew were Rick Husband, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, William McCool and Ilan Ramon. Ramon was the first astronaut from Israel.

“This is indeed a tragic day for the NASA family, for the families of the astronauts who flew on STS-107, and likewise is tragic for the Nation,” said NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.

“In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth,” said President George W. Bush. “These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.”

The vehicle broke up while traveling at 12,500 mph at an altitude of 207,135 ft. over East Central Texas resulting in the loss of both vehicle and crew. The shuttle had been in flight for 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes and 22 seconds

The cause of the explosion is thought to have stemmed from a chunk of insulating foam that peeled away from the external fuel tank and smacked into the left wing just a little over a minute into Columbia's launch on Jan. 16. The tile, like the rest of the shuttle, is covered with tiles to protect the ship from the extreme heat of re-entry into the atmosphere.

On Saturday, as the shuttle was preparing to return to Earth, the same wing started to exhibit some sensor failures and other problems. This was reported to be happening 23 minutes before Columbia was scheduled to touch down. Sixteen minutes before touchdown, it exploded.

“I immediately advised the President and the Secretary of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, at the point after landing was due to have occurred at 9:16 a.m., and spoke to them very briefly to advise them that we had lost contact with the Shuttle orbiter, Columbia, and the STS-107 crew,” said O’Keefe. “They offered, the President specifically offered, full and immediate support to determine the appropriate steps to be taken.”

The shuttle had been carrying out a variety of tests and experiments, but the largest of its jobs was part of the continual work on the International Space Station.

Terrorism has been ruled out as a possible cause of the explosion. At 207,135 feet, the shuttle was out of range of any surface-to-air missile.

A “Mishap Investigation Team” has been assembled to investigate the specific cause of the accident. The team is an independent group that is external from NASA.

The individuals are mostly from other branches of the Federal government. They come from the Air Force, Navy, Department of Transportation and several other agencies.

“We’ll be conducting both the internal activity as well as the external review immediately to ascertain the causes and circumstances under which this tragedy occurred,” said O’Keefe.

The explosion was so large that the Federal Aviation Administration issued a notice to airmen because the National Weather Service radar picked up a debris cloud that was 95 miles long and was 13 to 22 miles wide.

Debris has been found throughout Texas and in parts of Louisiana. Human remains, as well as various other forms of debris, have been identified.

This was the 28th flight by Columbia, which has been in NASA’s rotation for over 22 years. The shuttle was built in 1981 for a cost of about $1 billion.

In the past week, NASA observed the anniversary of its only two other space tragedies: the Challenger disaster on Jan. 28, 1986 and the Apollo I spacecraft fire that killed three on Jan. 27, 1967. Seven astronauts were lost in the Challenger explosion, which was caused by a leak in the seals of one of its right booster rockets.

Concern arises because following the explosion of the Challenger, the United States’ space program took a 2 ½-year moratorium on launches.

Saturday’s accident could possibly delay some large projects that NASA is undertaking and leave part of the construction of the International Space Station at a standstill.

Six space shuttle flights were planned for 2003, with five of them going to the space station. The next launch was scheduled for March 1.

“We as humans put a lot of faith into our own intelligence and in what we can do as the highest level of rational thinkers and for so long we have considered our space program the icing on the cake of our intellect and when this happens, when the creation of supposedly the greatest human minds is destroyed, people begin to doubt their own intelligence because if the greatest minds can make such a tragic error then obviously we are capable of much more severe accidents,” said Dusty Dean, a sophomore political science major from Huntingdon.

“Of course, that is why we get so upset, because subconsciously we are observing an all too apparent error in the human psyche and that unsettles us. NASA meticulously plans for everything, checks and re-checks, and then this,” said Dean.

Columbia was the first space shuttle in NASA’s program and took its first flight on April 12, 1981. The shuttle is named for the ship Columbia, a sloop captained by Robert Gray who, on May 11, 1792, maneuvered his ship through dangerous inland waters to explore British Columbia and what are now the states of Washington and Oregon.

Though Columbia was the first, it has been joined by four sister ships: the Challenger, arriving in 1982 but destroyed four years later; Discovery, 1983; Atlantis, 1985; and Endeavour, built as a replacement for Challenger, 1991. A test vehicle, the Enterprise, was used for sub orbital approach and landing tests and did not fly in space. The names of Columbia's sister ships each boast their own illustrious origin.

Space shuttle orbiters go by more technical terms when being spoken of in day-to-day use. Columbia is commonly referred to as OV-102, for Orbiter Vehicle-102. The empty weight of the shuttle was 158,289 lbs. at rollout and 178,000 lbs. with main engines installed.

“We trust the prayers of the nation will be with them and with their families. A more courageous group of people you could not have hoped to know,” said O’Keefe.