The day of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster – level 1

01-02-2003

On January 16, 2003, six astronauts from the US and one astronaut from Israel prepare for a journey to space. They want to go in the Space Shuttle Columbia. At the start, one part of the shuttle is broken. But experts at NASA think that it isn’t a big problem.

The astronauts continue their journey. They do many experiments in space. 16 days later, it is time for their journey back to Earth. All seven astronauts are happy that they are going home.

The shuttle enters the Earth’s atmosphere. The temperature goes up and up. The temperature is too high for the broken part of the shuttle.

There is an explosion. The shuttle is destroyed in the sky. All seven astronauts die in the accident.

After the accident, NASA stops the shuttle journeys to space. They start again in 2005.

Difficult words: disaster (a bad accident), space shuttle (a plane for journeys to space), enter (to go inside), destroyed (completely broken).

What safety measures did NASA implement after the accident that allowed space travel to resume in 2005?

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