<P> The shuttle's main fuel tank is covered in thermal insulation foam intended to prevent ice from forming when the tank is full of liquid hydrogen and oxygen . Such ice could damage the shuttle if shed during lift - off . </P> <P> Mission STS - 107 was the 113th Space Shuttle launch . Planned to begin on January 11, 2001, the mission was delayed 18 times and eventually launched on January 16, 2003, following STS - 113 . (The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined that this delay had nothing to do with the catastrophic failure .) </P> <P> About 82 seconds after launch from Kennedy Space Center's LC - 39 - A, a suitcase - sized piece of foam broke off from the External Tank (ET), striking Columbia's left wing reinforced carbon - carbon (RCC) panels . As demonstrated by ground experiments conducted by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, this likely created a 6 - to - 10 - inch (15 to 25 cm) diameter hole, allowing hot gases to enter the wing when Columbia later re-entered the atmosphere . At the time of the foam strike, the orbiter was at an altitude of about 66,000 feet (20 km; 12.5 mi), traveling at Mach 2.46 (1,626 miles per hour or 727 meters per second). </P> <P> The Left Bipod Foam Ramp is an approximately three - foot (one - meter) long aerodynamic component made entirely of foam . The foam, not normally considered to be a structural material, is required to bear some aerodynamic loads . Because of these special requirements, the casting - in - place and curing of the ramps may be performed only by a senior technician . The bipod ramp (having left and right sides) was originally designed to reduce aerodynamic stresses around the bipod attachment points at the external tank, but it was proven unnecessary in the wake of the accident and was removed from the external tank design for tanks flown after STS - 107 (another foam ramp along the liquid oxygen line was also later removed from the tank design to eliminate it as a foam debris source, after analysis and tests proved this change safe). </P>

What was the cause of the space shuttle columbia disaster
find me the text answering this question