Space Shuttle Columbia disaster didn’t begin during re-entry. It began 16 days earlier, with something NASA believed was harmless. In 2003, Columbia launched on what appeared to be a routine mission.

STARBASE, Texas—For the third day in a row, SpaceX engineers prepared to send the company’s massive Starship rocket into space Tuesday after a technical problem and bad weather grounded the test ...

Before the NASA Space Shuttle ever reached orbit, engineers faced a dangerous problem few people fully appreciated: returning ...