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The post USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Completes First Full Ship Shock Trial Event – 18 June 2021 first appeared on The Black Vault.

On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering Earth’s atmosphere, killing all seven crew members.

The disaster was the second fatal accident in the Space Shuttle program after Space Shuttle Challenger, which broke apart and killed the seven-member crew 73 seconds after liftoff in 1986. During the launch of STS-107, Columbia’s 28th mission, a piece of foam insulation broke off from the Space Shuttle external tank and struck the left wing of the orbiter. A few previous shuttle launches had seen damage ranging from minor to major from foam shedding, but some engineers suspected that the damage to Columbia was more serious. NASA managers limited the investigation, reasoning that the crew could not have fixed the problem if it had been confirmed.

When Columbia re-entered the atmosphere of Earth, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the spacecraft to become unstable and break apart.

Below, you will find various records archived about the incident.

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Documents 

 Columbia Recovery Operation – Informal After-Action Report, Date Unknown [53 Pages, 7.5MB] – This was a one-of-a-kind operation in many ways. First, it was a mission no one had expected or prepared for so the response team literally had to “make it up as we went”. It also brought together hundreds of agencies, including thousands of volunteers, most of whom bad never worked together. Finally, it was also very large in scope from at least 3 perspectives: (1) it was a long response operation lasting over 90 days; (2) it was manpower intensive with a peak strength of 6,000 personnel and over 25,000 personnel rotating through from the various agencies; (3) and it covered a large area with search operations of various magnitudes taking place in several states from the California coastline to the Gulf of Mississippi. Additionally, this operation took place as our nation was ramping up for war with Iraq and continued through the end of the war. This posed many challenges with regards to resources being diver ted to support the war effort.

Langley Research Center Timeline, E-mails and comments regarding possible issues with landing 

 Timeline, E-mails and comments [27 Pages, 700k]

Langley Research Center correspondence, e-mails or other documentation pertaining to Columbia Mission STS-107. (These documents are being posted in groups as they are released. )

 Group 1 [61 Pages, 6.1mb]

 Group 2 [154 Pages, 10.4mb]

 Group 3 [193 Pages, 20.4mb]

 Group 4 [16 Pages, 0.7mb]

 Group 5 [90 Pages, 3.9mb]

 Group 6 [301 Pages, 19mb]

 Group 7 [353 Pages, 12.7mb]

 Group 8 [31 Pages, 1.22mb]

 Group 9 [204 Pages, 19.4mb]

 Group 10 [31 Pages, 1.03mb]

 Group 11 [78 Pages, 3.06mb]

Langley Research Center employee e-mails and written or faxed correspondence involving Robert Daugherty, Howard Adelman & Mark Shuart regarding the Columbia STS-107 Mission 

 Robert Daugherty [320 Pages, 28.7mb]

 Howard Adelman [103 Pages, 10.3mb]

 Mark Shuart [52 Pages, 5.56mb]

The post STS-107 – Columbia Disaster – February 1, 2003 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Challenger was destroyed in the second minute of STS-51-L, the orbiter’s tenth mission, on January 28, 1986 at 11:38:00 a.m. EST, when an O-ring seal on its right solid rocket booster (SRB) failed. The O-rings failed to seal due to a variety of factors, including unusually cold temperatures. This failure allowed a plume of flame to leak out of the SRB and impinge on both the external fuel tank (ET) and SRB aft attachment strut. This caused both structural failure of the ET and the SRB pivoting into the orbiter and ET. The orbiter’s attitude rotated out of the normal flight profile and the vehicle assembly then broke apart under aerodynamic loads.

Document Archive

 FBI File on Challenger Disaster [182 Pages, 10.9MB] – The FBI conducted an investigation in order to determine if the January 28, 1986, explosion was the result of sabotage.

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The post STS-51 – Challenger Disaster – January 28, 1986 first appeared on The Black Vault.

Project A119, also known as “A Study of Lunar Research Flights”, was a top-secret plan developed in 1958 by the United States Air Force. The aim of the project was to detonate a nuclear bomb on the Moon which would help in answering some of the mysteries in planetary astronomy and astrogeology, and had the explosive device not entered into a lunar crater, the flash of explosive light would have been faintly visible to people on earth with their naked eye, a show of force resulting in a possible boosting of domestic morale in the capabilities of the United States, a boost that was needed after the Soviet Union took an early lead in the Space Race and who were also working on a similar project.

Neither the Soviet nor the US Project A119 were ever carried out, being cancelled primarily out of a fear of a negative public reaction, with the potential militarization of space that it would also have signified, and because a moon landing would undoubtedly be a more popular achievement in the eyes of the American and international public alike.

The existence of the US project was revealed in 2000 by a former executive at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Leonard Reiffel, who led the project in 1958. A young Carl Sagan was part of the team responsible for predicting the effects of a nuclear explosion in low gravity and in evaluating the scientific value of the project. The project documents remained secret for nearly 45 years, and despite Reiffel’s revelations, the United States government has never officially recognized its involvement in the study. (Source: Wikipedia)

Below are the documents that have been released on Project A119:

Document Archive

 A STUDY OF LUNAR RESEARCH FLIGHTS, VOLUME I [190 Pages, 5.9MB] – Nuclear detonations in the vicinity of the moon are considered in this report along with scientific information which might be obtained from such explosions. The military aspect is aided by investigation of space environment, detection of nuclear device testing, and capability of weapons in space. A study was conducted of various theories of the moon’s structure and origin, and a description of the probable nature of the lunar surface is given. The areas discussed in some detail are optical lunar studies, seismic observations, lunar surface and magnetic fields, plasma and magnetic field effects, and organic matter on the moon.

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The post Project A119 – “A Study of Lunar Research Flights” first appeared on The Black Vault.

More than 4,000 tons of shells exploded near a military testing ground some 40 kilometers from the city of Orenburg in Central Russia, prompting the mass evacuation of two nearby towns.

Those 4,000 tons included 1,379 tons of 100mm shells, 400 tons of air bombs and 2,300 tons of 280mm reactive shells, the head of the military investigative committee announced.

Witnesses recorded video of a massive plume of smoke rising into the air shortly after the explosions. Local residents said that the blasts were powerful enough to rattle windows dozens of kilometers away from the epicenter.

Declassified Documents

All documents from EUCOM [4 Pages, 0.6 MB] – Although mostly blacked out from “non-responsive” expemptions, this shows what is available, along with photos.

All documents from the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency [6 Pages, 0.9 MB]

The post 4,000 tons of shells explode in Central Russia, October 2012 first appeared on The Black Vault.