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William C. McCool

American - (NASA)

Lost In Flight

Date of Birth: Sept. 23, 1961
Date of Death: Feb. 1, 2003


William Cameron "Willie" McCool was an American naval officer and aviator, test pilot, aeronautical engineer, and NASA astronaut, who was the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia mission STS-107. He and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when Columbia disintegrated during re-entry into the atmosphere. He was the youngest male member of the crew. McCool was posthumously awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-107

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 16, 2003, 3:39 p.m.
Status: Failure
Mission:

STS-107 was the 113th flight of the Space Shuttle program, and the disastrous final flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. The mission launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 16, 2003, and during its 15 days, 22 hours, 20 minutes, 32 seconds in orbit conducted a multitude of international scientific experiments.

Low Earth Orbit
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Acting Administrator: James Free

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. NASA have many launch facilities but most are inactive. The most commonly used pad will be LC-39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 19 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-87
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Ceres-1
Failure
2 days, 19 hours ago
Jilin-1 High Resolution-04C and others
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Earth Observation satellite for the Jilin-1 commercial constellation. Other payloads: * Jilin-1 Platform-02A-04 * Zhongbei University-1


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 20 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 13
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group. …


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-51
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

A batch of 29 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Kinetica 1
Success
3 days, 19 hours ago
Chutian-2 01 & 02
Launch Area 130 - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

2 satellites built by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) for testing operations of Very Low Earth Orbit (VLEO) satellites f…