The Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven astronauts were lost February 1, 2003, when the vehicle broke up over north central Texas during its reentry from orbit.

Columbia was 16 minutes from landing at the Kennedy Space Center when flight controllers at Mission Control lost contact with the vehicle. Columbia was returning from a 16-day scientific research mission, its 28th flight, which launched on January 16.

Aboard Columbia were Commander Rick Husband, completing his second flight, Pilot William McCool, wrapping up his first mission, Mission Specialists Dave Brown, also completing his first mission, Kalpana Chawla, on her second flight, Laurel Clark, a first-time space traveler, Payload Commander Mike Anderson, ending his second flight, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon of the Israel Space Agency, on his first flight.

The attached is a swatch of beta cloth material flown aboard a prior flight as part of the orbiter's payload bay liner. Installed over insulation blankets (in a manner similar to window screening) the liner helped maintain the cleanliness of the payload bay and as such was replaced between missions where configuration needs, damage or discoloration demanded. This liner sample is from a NASA-created and distributed commemorative bookmark honoring the crew and Columbia.