On February 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia began its descent back to earth. As the shuttle raced over the Pacific towards the United States, the shuttle broke apart while reentering the Earth's atmosphere over Texas and Louisiana. That killed all seven crew members Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, and Laurel Blair Salton Clark on board. The disaster happened because superheated atmospheric gases blasted inside the shuttle’s structure causing maximum damage to the shuttle on re-entry. The crew cabin lost pressure which would have caused the astronauts to blackout. If not that, then the violent shaking of the cabin would have killed them.