{"id":43776,"date":"2025-09-15T19:39:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-closing-its-original-repository-for-columbia-artifacts-to-tours\/"},"modified":"2025-09-15T19:39:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T11:39:06","slug":"nasa-closing-its-original-repository-for-columbia-artifacts-to-tours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-closing-its-original-repository-for-columbia-artifacts-to-tours\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA closing its original repository for Columbia artifacts to tours"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA is changing the way that its employees come in contact with, and remember, one of its worst tragedies.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the 2003 loss of the space shuttle Columbia<\/em> and its STS-107 crew, NASA created a program to use the orbiter\u2019s debris for research and education at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Agency employees were invited to see what remained of the space shuttle as a powerful reminder as to why they had to be diligent in their work. Access to the Columbia Research and Preservation Office, though, was limited as a result of its location and related logistics.<\/p>\n

To address that and open up the experience to more of the workforce at Kennedy, the agency has quietly begun work to establish a new facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe room, titled Columbia Learning Center (CLC), is a whole new concept,\u201d a NASA spokesperson wrote in an email. \u201cThere are no access requirements; anyone at NASA Kennedy can go in any day of the week and stay as long as they like. The CLC will be available whenever employees need the inspiration and message for generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Debris depository<\/h2>\n

On February 1, 2003, Columbia<\/em> was making its way back from a 16-day science mission in Earth orbit when the damage that it suffered during its launch resulted in the orbiter breaking apart over East Texas. Instead of landing at Kennedy as planned, Columbia<\/em> fell to the ground in more than 85,000 pieces.<\/p>\n

The tragedy claimed the lives of commander Rick Husband, pilot Willie McCool, mission specialists David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, and Laurel Clark, and payload specialist Ilan Ramon of Israel.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

Initially, the debris that was found was transported and brought into a hangar at Kennedy, where it was laid out based on where it had been part of the shuttle. After the investigation into what caused the disaster was complete, NASA established the Columbia Research and Preservation Office on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the voluminous facility that was used to assemble the space shuttles for launch.<\/p>\n

\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Michael Ciannilli, the former manager of NASA\u2019s Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program, at the Columbia Preservation Office on the 16th floor of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n Jonathan Ward\/Bringing Columbia Home<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The vault-like room with its large steel access doors held all of the recovered pieces\u2014about 40 percent of the total orbiter\u2014and was a departure from what NASA had done after its previous spaceflight disasters. Whereas previously what remained of the Apollo 1 command module and space shuttle Challenger<\/em> was stored out of sight, researchers could request parts from Columbia<\/em> for study, and employees were invited to see the wreckage through tours pre-arranged by the Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program.<\/p>\n

The press was allowed into the VAB archive only once, one year after the tragedy, when it was described as \u201cColumbia\u2019s final resting place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learning center<\/h2>\n

Most of the debris is remaining where it is, although there will be no more tours offered of that repository.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe old Columbia room in the restricted-access Vehicle Assembly Building will become a long-term storage room for artifacts,\u201d said the NASA spokesperson, citing the NASA officials who are leading the transition as part of the agency\u2019s Safety and Mission Assurance Mishap Prevention Program, under which the Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program has been folded.<\/p>\n

,<\/p>\n

\n

\"a<\/p>\n

The new Columbia Learning Center at Kennedy Space Center will be divided into three areas: a pre-show area where a short movie will be screened; an exhibit area with recovered artifacts from the fallen space shuttle Columbia<\/em>; and a learning area with multimedia displays to help mitigate future accidents.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n NASA via collectSPACE.com<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

The new Columbia Learning Center, to be located on the first floor of Kennedy Space Center\u2019s Operations Support Building 1 (OSB-1), will be divided into three areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new space will begin with a short movie, then a gallery exhibition of Columbia<\/em> artifacts and finally a learning area with multimedia stations that speak to the accidents, lessons learned and training tools to help mitigate future accidents,\u201d the NASA representative wrote.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

\"a<\/p>\n

NASA previously toured with a selection of space shuttle Columbia<\/em> recovered artifacts, bringing them to each of its 10 facilities across the nation to educate and inspire its workforce.<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n NASA\/Kim Shiflett<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Planning is now underway as to what specific pieces of Columbia<\/em> will fit and be placed into the learning center. Among the objects under consideration are some items from the orbiter\u2019s crew cabin that were previously shared with the workforce.<\/p>\n

Construction of the new space in OSB-1 is expected to be complete by October 1, at which point outfitting of the room will begin. The Columbia Learning Center is targeted to open to employees in January.<\/p>\n

Forever remembered<\/h2>\n

Access to the new Columbia Learning Center will be strictly limited to badge-holding employees. No public access is planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe public can continue to learn about the mission at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex\u2019s \u2018Forever Remembered\u2019 exhibit,\u201d NASA\u2019s spokesperson told collectSPACE.<\/p>\n

Opened in 2015 inside the building displaying the retired space shuttle Atlantis<\/em>, \u201cForever Remembered\u201d exhibits the forward window frames from Columbia<\/em> and a segment of the fuselage of Challenger<\/em>, along with mementos associated with all 14 fallen astronauts from the two space shuttle tragedies.<\/p>\n

\n

\"metal<\/p>\n

The flight deck windows recovered from space shuttle Columbia<\/em> are displayed as part of \u201cForever Remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Credit:
\n collectSPACE.com<\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Separately, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex also displays the hatches from the Apollo 1 command module that prevented three astronauts from escaping a fire in the capsule during a 1967 test on the launch pad.<\/p>\n

The changes to the Columbia Research and Preservation Office and Apollo, Challenger, Columbia Lessons Learned Program do not alter the legal status of the recovered artifacts from each tragedy, which remain the property of the US government regardless of where they are located. Any debris still found today should be reported to the NASA Safety Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA is changing the way that its employees come in contact with, and remember, one of its worst tragedies. In the wake of the 2003 loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its STS-107 crew, NASA created a program to use the orbiter\u2019s debris for research and education at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Agency […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43776"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43776"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43776\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}