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Latest
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June 28: Nasa has failed to meet the stringent safety recommendations made after the Columbia space shuttle disaster, according to a new report.
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In pictures
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Images from the doomed mission STS-107.
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Photos and profiles of the seven crew of the Columbia space shuttle.
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Observer focus
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January 11: What is known is that four seconds after 8 o'clock on the morning of 1 February 2003, the Columbia shuttle started to break up. Flying at 200,000ft and at 12,738mph, none of its crew would survive... What wasn't known, until now, is why. William Langewiesche reports.
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Interactive guide
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Graphic: Our click-through guide shows the sequence of events that led to the Columbia crash, and the fallout from the accident.
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Columbia report
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August 27: Another space shuttle disaster could occur if Nasa does not address its self-protective culture, which is schedule-driven, hampered by lack of funds and burdened by an insufficient safety programme, investigators into the destruction of the space shuttle Columbia said yesterday.
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Final transmissions
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March 1: A wrenching 13-minute video tape of the last moments of the crew of the space shuttle Columbia shows them joking, waving at the camera, and talking excitedly of experiencing re-entry to the earth's atmosphere.
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Debris on eBay
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February 11: Object of the week: Space shuttle debris.
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The investigation
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July 1: The seven Columbia astronauts killed when the shuttle tumbled out of control on its return to earth on February 1 had been assured that there was no cause to fear that the foam that had struck the spacecraft on takeoff might endanger its safe return.
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Looting
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February 9: Two people have been charged with looting wreckage from the space shuttle Columbia.
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Comment and debate
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February 6: As the clamour grows to stop sending people into space following the Columbia disaster, Tim Radford argues that space exploration's safety record isn't as bad as it seems.
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Different lives, different values
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February 4: Seven schoolchildren are swept to their deaths on a skiing trip in Canada. Seven Africans are washed up dead on a beach in Spain. Seven astronauts are lost when the space shuttle breaks up over America. Only one story captures world attention. Why, asks Libby Brooks.
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Email from crew member Laurel Clark
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Astronaut Laurel Clark, of Racine, Wisconsin, died on the space shuttle Columbia. The day before, she sent this email to family and friends.
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Press review
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February 3: Sarah Left takes a look at how the world's media have reacted to the Columbia space shuttle tragedy.
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Weblog
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The issue in links: We bring you the best journalism on the Columbia crash from around the internet.
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The crew
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February 3: Statement from the families of the crew of space shuttle Columbia, which broke up on Saturday, as read by Evelyn Husband, wife of shuttle commander Rick Husband, on NBC's Today programme.
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Obituaries
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February 3: Six Americans and one Israeli who died returning from a 16-day mission beyond the Earth.
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Future of the space programme
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February 23: Psychologists have been called in to help the three-man crew of the International Space Station cope with their stress and grief in the wake of the Columbia disaster, as they remain lost in space with little prospect of rescue.
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Reactions
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February 3: Radical Muslim cleric Abu Hamza today condemned the dead American, Indian and Israeli members of the Columbia space shuttle mission as a "trinity of evil" who were punished by God.
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History of the shuttle
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February 3: On April 12 1981, a new phase of space exploration was ushered in when the Columbia, piloted by John Young and Bob Crippen, flew the first space shuttle mission.
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Safety concerns
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February 6: The seven astronauts aboard the doomed space shuttle Columbia are likely to have known they were going to die for between 60 and 90 seconds before the craft broke apart.
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How the tragedy unfolded
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February 3: America awakes to wreckage falling from skies.
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Background
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Timeline: the dangerous business of space exploration.
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From the Guardian archive: the 1986 Challenger crash
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January 30 1986:The United States yesterday went into official mourning for the loss of the space shuttle Challenger and its crew of seven as the grim search for debris stretched over a 7,200 square-mile area of the Atlantic.
Most recent
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31 Dec 2008: Crew of seven had no chance of surviving craft's breakup due to cockpit depressurisation, report into 2003 disaster concludes -
15 Jan 2005: President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela said yesterday that diplomatic and commercial relations with Colombia would be suspended until it apologised for paying bounty hunters to snatch a senior rebel from Venezuela.
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26 Aug 2003:
A future space shuttle mission could suffer the same fate as the Columbia and Challenger crafts if Nasa does not deal with "persistant, systematic flaws" in its organisation, investigators said today.
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22 Jun 2003:
As Nasa braces itself for the official report into the Columbia tragedy, The Observer reveals how budget cuts hit vital safety measures.
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4 Feb 2003: Nasa has set up a website for members of the public to upload photos or video they took of the space shuttle Columbia disintegrating.
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4 Feb 2003:
Investigators have made a major discovery in their hunt for debris from the space shuttle Columbia, locating its nose cone in a heavily-wooded part of eastern Texas.
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4 Feb 2003: Nasa officials were warned of the probability of a large gash on the heat protection tiles on the Columbia in an internal report two days before the space shuttle broke apart in the skies above Texas.
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4 Feb 2003: Questions were raised yesterday about how much blame could be attached to budget cuts and Nasa mismanagement in the shuttle disaster.
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3 Feb 2003: The investigation into the Columbia space shuttle disaster was intensifying today, as Nasa engineers focused on whether a piece of peeling insulation had caused damage to crucial heat-protection tiles.
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3 Feb 2003:
As US officials investigate why the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated minutes from landing, Donald MacLeod examines the knock-on effect for European space research
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3 Feb 2003:
Sudden break-up means cause will be hard to find.
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3 Feb 2003:
US officials yesterday vowed to "leave absolutely no stone unturned" as they launched a massive hunt for evidence of the causes behind the fiery break-up of the space shuttle Columbia.
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2 Feb 2003:
Profiles of the seven astronauts who lost their lives in yesterday's space disaster.
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2 Feb 2003:
· Seven astronauts die as Shuttle explodes in flames
· Bush in crisis talks over new disaster for America -
1 Jul 1971:
The outlook for manned space flights looks bleak as an explanation is awaited for the Russian cosmonaut tragedy. After a brief early morning announcement of the death of the three men returning after 24 days in space, Moscow remained silent yesterday.
1-15 of 16 for Columbia space shuttle disaster 2003
