National Air and Space Museum Archives

Space Shuttle Columbia Reentry Imagery

Summary

Collection ID:
NASM.2004.0029
Creators:
McCullough, Robert L.
Dates:
bulk 2003
Languages:
English
.
Physical Description:
.18 Cubic feet
(1 box)
2.062 Gigabytes
(17 digital images)
Repository:
Photography by Robert McCullough, with
The Dallas Morning News
, capturing the reentry and disintegration of Space Shuttle
Columbia
on February 1, 2003.

Scope and Contents

Scope and Contents
This collection contains 17 digital images showing the disintegration of the Space Shuttle
Columbia
upon its reentry on February 1, 2003. These images were shot by the donor, Robert McCullough, with his Canon EOS Elan 7E with a Canon 75-300mm Image Stabilizer Zoom set at 300mm and a 2x converter (600mm, 12x). McCullough held the camera in hand due to the speed of its traverse, and some images exhibit these camera movements. Prints on FujiChrome Provia 400F were made of the focused images and included in the donation as two sets of ten prints. The second set of these ten images are the original full frame images while the first set are duplicates enlarged to show details. The copyright for the images is held by
The Dallas Morning News
.

Arrangement

Arrangement
Photos are in orginial order, which is chronological.

Biographical / Historical

Biographical / Historical
The Space Shuttle
Columbia
disintegrated upon reentry on February 1, 2003 due to a failure in the shuttle's heat-resistant tiles, which were damaged during its launch. As the shuttle reentered Earth's atmosphere, the compromised tiles allowed intense heat to penetrate the spacecraft, leading to its breakup over Texas. The loss of
Columbia
and its seven crew members highlighted the critical importance of safety measures and thorough risk assessment in space missions, prompting NASA to undertake extensive changes in shuttle design, inspection procedures, and safety protocols to prevent such a disaster from happening again.

Administration

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Robert L. McCullough, Gift, 2004, NASM.2004.0029.
Processing Information
Arranged, described, and encoded by Amara Pugens, 2023.

Using the Collection

Conditions Governing Use
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access.
Preferred Citation
Space Shuttle
Columbia
Reentry Imagery, NASM.2004.0029, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.

Keywords

Keywords table of terms and types.
Keyword Terms Keyword Types
Space shuttles Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Astronautics Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Space flight Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Space Shuttles, Columbia (OV-102) Topical Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
CD-ROMs Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Digital images Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
Photographs -- Digital prints -- 21st century Genre Form Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid
United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration Corporate Name Search Smithsonian Collections Search ArchiveGrid

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