Throughout the 1990s, NASA flew a number of dedicated science missions, usually aboard Columbia because it was equipped for extended-duration missions and was not being used for Shuttle-Mir docking missions or the assembly of the International Space Station. On many of these missions, Columbia carried pressurized Spacelab or SPACEHAB modules that extended the habitable experiment space available and were intended as facilities for life sciences and microgravity research.

In June 1997, the Flight Assignment Working Group at Johnson Space Center in Houston designated STS-107, tentatively scheduled for launch in the third quarter of Fiscal Year 2000, a "research module" flight. In July 1997, several committees of the National Academy of Sciences Space Studies Board sent a letter to NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin recommend-ing that NASA dedicate several future Shuttle missions to microgravity and life sciences. The purpose would be to train scientists to take full advantage of the International Space Stations research capabilities once it became operational, and to reduce the gap between the last planned Shuttle science mission and the start of science research aboard the Space Station.*1 In March 1998, Goldin announced that STS-107, tentatively scheduled for launch in May 2000, would be a multi-disciplinary science mission modeled after STS-90, the Neurolab mission scheduled later in 1998.*2 In October 1998, the Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies Appropriations Conference Re-port expressed Congress concern about the lack of Shuttle-based science missions in Fiscal Year 1999, and added $15 million to NASAs budget for STS-107. The following year the Conference Report reserved $40 million for a second sci-ence mission. NASA cancelled the second science mission in October 2002 and used the money for STS-107.

In addition to a variety of U.S. experiments assigned to STS-107, a joint U.S./Israeli space experiment ｭ the Medi-terranean-Israeli Dust Experiment, or MEIDEX ｭ was added to STS-107 to be accompanied by an Israeli astronaut as part of an international cooperative effort aboard the Shuttle similar to those NASA had begun in the early 1980s. Triana, a deployable Earth-observing satellite, was also added to the mission to save NASA from having to buy a commercial launch to place the satellite in orbit. Political disagreements between Congress and the White House delayed Triana, and the satellite was replaced by the Fast Reaction Experiments Enabling Science, Technology, Applications, and Research (FREESTAR) payload, which was mounted behind the SPACEHAB Research Double Module.*3

Schedule Slippage

STS-107 was finally scheduled for launch on January 11, 2001. After 13 delays over two years, due mainly to other missions taking priority, Columbia was launched on January 16, 2003 (see Figure 2.1-1). Delays may take several forms. When any delay is mentioned, most people think of a Space Shuttle sitting on the launch pad waiting for launch. But most delays actually occur long before the Shuttle is configured for a mission. This was the case for STS-107 ｭ of the 13 delays, only a few occurred after the Orbiter was configured for flight; most happened earlier in the planning process. Three specific events caused delays for STS-107:

• Removal of Triana: This Earth-observing satellite was replaced with the FREESTAR payload.



• Orbiter Maintenance Down Period: Columbias depot-level maintenance took six months longer than originally planned, primarily to correct problems encountered with Kapton wiring (see Chapter 4). This resulted in the STS-109 Hubble Space Telescope service mission being launched before STS-107 because it was considered more urgent.



• Flowliner cracks: About one month before the planned July 19, 2002 launch date for STS-107, concerns about cracks in the Space Shuttle Main Engine propellant system flowliners caused a four-month grounding of the Orbiter fleet. (The flowliner, which is in the main propellant feed lines, mitigates turbulence across the flexible bellows to smooth the flow of propellant into the main engine low-pressure turbopump. It also protects the bellows from flow-induced vibration.) First discovered on Atlantis, the cracks were eventually discovered on each Orbiter; they were fixed by welding and polishing. The grounding delayed the exchange of the Expedition 5 International Space Station crew with the Expedition 6 crew, which was scheduled for STS-113. To maintain the International Space Sta-tion assembly sequence while minimizing the delay in returning the Expedition 5 crew, both STS-112 and STS-113 were launched before STS-107.

The Crew

The STS-107 crew selection process followed standard pro-cedures. The Space Shuttle Program provided the Astronaut Office with mission requirements calling for a crew of seven. There were no special requirements for a rendezvous, extra-vehicular activity (spacewalking), or use of the remote ma-nipulator arm. The Chief of the Astronaut Office announced the crew in July 2000. To maximize the amount of science re-search that could be performed, the crew formed two teams, Red and Blue, to support around-the-clock operations.

Crew Training

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board thoroughly reviewed all pre-mission training (see Figure 2.1-2) for the STS-107 crew, Houston Mission Controllers, and the Kennedy Space Center Launch Control Team. Mission training for the STS-107 crew comprised 4,811 hours, with an additional 3,500 hours of payload-specific training. The Ascent/Entry Flight Control Team began training with the STS-107 crew on October 22, 2002, and participated in 16 integrated ascent or entry simulations. The Orbiter Flight Control team began training with the crew on April 23, 2002, participating in six joint integrated simulations with the crew and payload customers. Seventy-seven Flight Control Room operators were assigned to four shifts for the STS-107 mission. All had prior certifications and had worked missions in the past.

The STS-107 Launch Readiness Review was held on December 18, 2002, at the Kennedy Space Center. Neither NASA nor United Space Alliance noted any training issues for launch controllers. The Mission Operations Directorate noted no crew or flight controller training issues during the January 9, 2003, STS-107 Flight Readiness Review. According to documentation, all personnel were trained and certified, or would be trained and certified before the flight. Appendix D.1 contains a detailed STS-107 Training Report.

Orbiter Preparation

Board investigators reviewed Columbias maintenance, or "flow" records, including the recovery from STS-109 and preparation for STS-107, and relevant areas in NASAs Problem Reporting and Corrective Action database, which contained 16,500 Work Authorization Documents consisting of 600,000 pages and 3.9 million steps. This database maintains critical information on all maintenance and modifica-tion work done on the Orbiters (as required by the Orbiter Maintenance Requirements and Specifications Document). It also maintains Corrective Action Reports that document problems discovered and resolved, the Lost/Found item da-tabase, and the Launch Readiness Review and Flight Readi-ness Review documentation (see Chapter 7).

The Board placed emphasis on maintenance done in areas of particular concern to the investigation. Specifically, re-cords for the left main landing gear and door assembly and left wing leading edge were analyzed for any potential contributing factors, but nothing relevant to the cause of the accident was discovered. A review of Thermal Protection System tile maintenance records revealed some "non-conformances" and repairs made after Columbias last flight, but these were eventually dismissed as not relevant to the investigation. Additionally, the Launch Readiness Review and Flight Readiness Review records relating to those systems and the Lost/Found item records were reviewed, and no relevance was found. During the Launch Readiness Review and Flight Readiness Review processes, NASA teams analyzed 18 lost items and deemed them inconsequential. (Although this incident was not considered significant by the Board, a further discussion of foreign object debris may be found in Chapter 4.)

Payload Preparation

The payload bay configuration for STS-107 included the SPACEHAB access tunnel, SPACEHAB Research Double Module (RDM), the FREESTAR payload, the Orbital Acceleration Research Experiment, and an Extended Duration Orbiter pallet to accommodate the long flight time needed to conduct all the experiments. Additional experiments were stowed in the Orbiter mid-deck and on the SPACE-HAB roof (see Figures 2.1-3 and 2.1-4). The total liftoff payload weight for STS-107 was 24,536 pounds. Details on STS-107 payload preparations and on-orbit operations are in Appendix D.2.

Payload readiness reviews for STS-107 began in May 2002, with no significant abnormalities reported throughout the processing. The final Payload Safety Review Panel meet-ing prior to the mission was held on January 8, 2003, at the Kennedy Space Center, where the Integrated Safety Assessments conducted for the SPACEHAB and FREESTAR payloads were presented for final approval. All payload physical stresses on the Orbiter were reported within acceptable limits. The Extended Duration Orbiter pallet was loaded into the aft section of the payload bay in High Bay 3 of the Orbiter Processing Facility on April 25, 2002. The SPACEHAB and FREESTAR payloads were loaded horizontally on March 24, with an Integration Verification Test on June 6. The payload bay doors were closed on October 31 and were not opened prior to launch. (All late stow activities at the launch pad were accomplished in the vertical position using the normal crew entry hatch and SPACEHAB access tunnel.) Rollover of the Orbiter to the Vehicle Assembly Building for mating to the Solid Rocket Boosters and External Tank oc-curred on November 18. Mating took place two days later, and rollout to Launch Complex 39-A was on December 9.

Unprecedented security precautions were in place at Kennedy Space Center prior to and during the launch of STS-107 because of prevailing national security concerns and the inclusion of an Israeli crew member.

SPACEHAB was powered up at Launch minus 51 (L-51) hours (January 14) to prepare for the late stowing of time-critical experiments. The stowing of material in SPACE-HAB once it was positioned vertically took place at L-46 hours and was completed by L-31 hours. Late middeck pay-load stowage, required for the experiments involving plants and insects, was performed at the launch pad. Flight crew equipment loading started at L-22.5 hours, while middeck experiment loading took place from Launch minus 19 to 16 hours. Fourteen experiments, four of which were powered, were loaded, all without incident.