NASA commissioned six space shuttles under its Space Shuttle Program fleet:
the Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.
Columbia (OV-102)
Columbia was the first of five Space Shuttle orbiters to fly in space, debuting the Space Shuttle launch vehicle on its maiden flight in April 1981. It was the heaviest of the five spacefaring orbiters; around 2,200 pounds heavier than Challenger and 7,900 pounds heavier than Endeavour. During its 22 years of operation, it was flown on 28 missions, spending over 300 days in space, travelled a distance of 201,497,773.1 kms and completed over 4,800 orbits around Earth.
Columbia was used for eleven of the fifteen flights of Spacelab laboratories, all four United States Microgravity Payload missions, and the only flight of Spacehab's Research Double Module. The Extended Duration Orbiter pallet was used by the orbiter in thirteen of the pallet's fourteen flights, which aided lengthy stays in orbit for scientific and technological research missions. Columbia was also used to retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility and deploy the Chandra observatory, and also carried into space the first female commander of an American spaceflight mission, the first ESA astronaut, the first female astronaut of Indian origin, and the first Israeli astronaut.
At the end of its final flight on February 1st 2003, Columbia disintegrated upon reentry, killing all seven crew members of and destroying the scientific payloads aboard. The disaster was the last of two fatal accidents in the Space Shuttle program, after the 1986 breakup of Challenger soon after liftoff. During the STS-107 launch, a piece of the insulative foam broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter's left wing. When Columbia reentered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the orbiter to become unstable and break apart.
This cache was placed with the intention of being found for the "2022 Discover L&A County Geocaching Mega Event" held on August 20, 2022 at 8am.
