The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth

RTE2 HD

7:45 PM to 8:55 PM

Saturday 21 September

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The story of the 2003 Columbia disaster continues. Nasa engineers analysed film footage of a piece of debris striking the space shuttle 81 seconds after launch. An analysis team concluded the piece of foam did not represent a safety risk to the vehicle or the mission, so the 16-day orbit went ahead. But when time came for the shuttle to re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, anomalies were reported to Mission Control - before another piece of debris was caught on camera