A Texas farmer has found what he believes to be a helmet from the crew of the doomed Columbia disaster, which broke apart in the skies and killed all seven people onboard more than two decades earlier.

In February 2003, Space Shuttle Colombia was supposed to land following a 16-day mission.

But tragically the spacecraft broke apart as it re-entered the atmosphere over Louisiana and Texas, killing all seven people on board.

David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool and Ilan Ramon are believed to have ᴅᴇᴀᴅ within minutes.

It’s been two decades since the Space Shuttle Colombia Disaster. The tragedy is set to be retold in a BBC Two documentary series, starting on Monday at 9pm.

‘The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth’ will capture personal stories of the launch, unfolding disaster and fallout shared by the astronaut’s families, as well as NASA staff who were involved in the mission.

A recent post on X, formerly Twitter, has unveiled a possible discovery of one of the crew’s helmets, found in Texas

(L-R) David Brown, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool and Ilan Ramon lost their lives in the Space Shuttle Colombia disaster in 2003

A pH๏τo, uploaded by @Morbidful on January 10, shows a single, weathered helmet laying on a patch of grᴀss, allegedly discovered by a Texan farmer

A recent post on X, formerly Twitter, has unveiled a possible discovery of one of the crew’s helmets, found in Texas.

A pH๏τo, uploaded by @Morbidful on January 10, shows a single, weathered helmet laying on a patch of grᴀss, allegedly discovered by a Texan farmer.

A caption accompanies the image, which reads: ‘PH๏τo that allegedly shows part of an astronaut’s helmet found by a Texas farmer after the Columbia disaster in 2003.’

Although the piece of protective wear appears to be covered in rust and dirt – as it may have been left to defend itself against nature’s elements as it lays outside – it appears to show signs of having gone through scalding temperatures.

Parts of the white helmet looks charred and molten with black marks, and a large hole can be seen to the back, perhaps apparent from the result of a fire or explosion.

Below the helmet is a large hole in the ground with no grᴀss growing above it, which may indicate that the helmet had been burning as it made an impact with the ground.

The shuttle’s disintegration was initially caused by a piece of foam insulation broke off from the external tank and struck the port wing of the orbiter, which destroyed the internal wing structure and caused the ship to become unstable.

The astronauts were killed when superheated atmospheric gases blasted inside the breach like a blow torch, melting the ship’s structure.

The Space Shuttle Columbia, on mission STS-107, launches January 16, 2003 at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida

Mac Powell stands next to what he believes to be the suspected damaged left wing from the fallen space shuttle Columbia, on his property in Nacogdoches County, Texas in 2003

Members of the space shuttle Columbia reconstruction team walk around shuttle’s debris on the floor grid of the RLV Hangar May 6, 2003 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida

Although the helmet has not yet been confirmed by NASA or local authorities as being linked to the tragedy, there are speculations under the post that it came from a crew member

A NASA report from 2009 revealed that although that the astronauts had been preparing the shuttle for return to Earth at the time, some crew members weren’t wearing their bulky protective gloves and still had their helmet visors open, while some weren’t fully strapped in and one was barely seated.

Although the helmet has not yet been confirmed by NASA or local authorities as being linked to the 2003 Colombia tragedy, there are speculations under the post that the item may well have come from one of the crew member’s uniform.

Alluding to the locate in which the helmet was found, one person said: ‘Bodies of all seven of its astronauts were found here – within the same 20-mile radius.’

Meanwhile, @visionaryvoid, posting an official pH๏τograph of the recovered debris and items from the blast in 2003, said: ‘Pieces of all seven astronauts were found scattered across Texas and Louisiana.’

This comes after a piece of NASA’s fallen Challenger was discovered in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Florida  in November 2022 – nearly 37 years after the craft exploded 73 seconds into flight and killing all seven astronauts aboard.

Episode 1 of The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth airs on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday 12 February.