The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster was a fatal accident in the NASA Space Shuttle program on February 1, 2003. During the launch of the STS-107 mission, foam insulation from the Space Shuttle external tank fell and damaged the thermal protection system of the orbiter. During atmospheric reentry at the end of the mission, the damage allowed hot gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure. The orbiter broke apart inflight, killing all seven astronauts on board (crew pictured). Debris was scattered over eastern Texas and Louisiana, and a massive recovery effort was launched to recover debris and crew remains. The accident resulted in a two-year hiatus for the Space Shuttle program, and an investigation into its cause discovered that NASA had become accustomed to insulation foam hitting the orbiter on previous missions. The accident contributed to the eventual cancellation and retirement of the Space Shuttle, which last flew in 2011.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Columbia_disaster

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1662:

Sino-Dutch conflicts: The Dutch East India Company's rule in Taiwan ended after a siege by the Ming loyalist Koxinga, who established the Kingdom of Tungning on the island. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Fort_Zeelandia

1942:

Voice of America, the official external radio and television service of the United States federal government, began broadcasting with programs aimed at Axis-controlled areas during World War II. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America

1972:

Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, became the first settlement in the country to be granted city status since independence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuala_Lumpur

2012:

Following an Egyptian Premier League match in Port Said, Al Masry fans rioted and violently attacked Al Ahly supporters, resulting in 74 deaths. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Said_Stadium_riot

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

caseness: (chiefly psychiatry) The state of accepted standardized diagnostic criteria for a given condition applying to a given patient, or the degree to which they are so applicable. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caseness

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

Yesterday, there was a tsar, and there were slaves; today there is no tsar, but the slaves remain; tomorrow there will be only tsars. We march in the name of tomorrow's free man — the royal man. We have lived through the epoch of suppression of the masses; we are living in an epoch of suppression of the individual in the name of the masses; tomorrow will bring the liberation of the individual — in the name of man. Wars, imperialist and civil, have turned man into material for warfare, into a number, a cipher. Man is forgotten, for the sake of the sabbath. We want to recall something else to mind: that the sabbath is for man. The only weapon worthy of man — of tomorrows's man — is the word.   --Yevgeny Zamyatin https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Yevgeny_Zamyatin