Feb. 1, 2003: Space shuttle Columbia disaster

ON THIS DAY: The space shuttle Columbia broke apart while returning to Earth, killing the seven astronauts on board.

An investigation would later determine that tiles damaged during lift-off allowed super-heated atmospheric gasses to penetrate the shuttle's wing during re-entry, causing the ship to become unstable and quickly disintegrate. The crew was not told about any risk and didn't know something was wrong until very late in re-entry.

"In the words of a flight director at NASA: It has been a bad day," ABC News' Peter Jennings said during a Feb. 1, 2003 broadcast reporting on the devastating incident.

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