Final minutes aboard Columbia

A second-by-second account of the final few minutes of the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle. Its a gripping (and yet horrifying) tale of how a seemingly inconsequential piece of foam caused the destruction of one of the most complicated machines ever built!

"The most complicated machine ever built got knocked out of the sky by a pound and a half of foam. I don't know how any of us could have seen that coming. The message that sends me is, we are walking the razor's edge. This is a dangerous business and it does not take much to knock you off."
-- Flight director Paul Hill

The account is an extract from a book titled, "Comm Check ... The Final Flight of Shuttle Columbia," by Michael Cabbage and William Harwood, which was published yesterday.

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