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Abstract
Earth after its space mission and it resulted in loss of life of all its 7 crewmembers. After the incident, a large scale investigation mission and committee was setup to investigate and establish the reason behind crash of the Space vehicle. The leading investigating teams included experts from various technical disciplines, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), space industry and academics.
An investigation team, other than that of NASA, was formed, called the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), which worked independent of NASA and conducted an investigation to understand the cause of Columbia crash. The reason behind the accident was the fracture in the left wing leading edge RCC (Reinforced Carbon-Carbon) thermal protection system of the Shuttle which was commenced by the impact of thermal insulating foam. This foam broke loose from external fuel tank of the orbiter merely after 81 seconds of the launch of the Shuttle from Earth.