Your Columbia Memories

ascan1984 · Feb 1, 2006

Today marks the third aniversary of the lossof columbia and i just wondered what are yur memories of that horrible day?

mattblack · Feb 1, 2006

**EXCERPTs OF A LETTER THAT I SENT TO FRIENDS IN HOUSTON IN FEBRUARY 2003: />>...Anyway, I digress. It was time to come home after a relaxing, happy honeymoon during which we spent far too much money. On the Friday night before our return, January 16th, we went to a fabulous Italian restaurant named Augellos (*in Brisbane, Australia*). When we returned to our room, I checked the news channel to see if Shuttle Columbia had lifted off. She'd already launched and I'd missed it. This annoyed me as I've never missed a launch on TV since 1994. Anyway, we had a two hour nap and a car came for us at 3am on Saturday. We caught the plane at 6am and had a good flight home. As we crossed the Tasman Sea back towards New Zealand at 39,000ft, I looked up into the dark blue sky and wondered how the crew of Columbia was. Monday morning, it was back to work. Yuck. It took a couple of days for me to get back into the flow of working again. I'd gotten so weak and flabby on a month's holiday that any heavy lifting at all just wore me out. In the evenings I'd try to see any coverage on STS-107, but even CNN's coverage was poor, so I had to follow the Nasa TV downlink over the Internet, which was fuzzy and unreliable at the best of times. But at least I got to hear the Astronauts voices a bit. On the night of Thursday 29th, Maree and I watched Columbia soar overhead Auckland, a bright little star that flared particularly bright in the last few seconds of her pass before sailing into Earth's shadow. Magic stuff. On Saturday night, January 31st, we were invited to a 40th Birthday party. It was our old friend Malcolm, who was the second camera man at our wedding. I was tired after a busy day at work, but Maree and I enjoyed ourselves very much. When we got home at about 2a.m. Sunday morning (*1st February*) I was just dog tired. I briefly entertained staying up another two hours to watch Columbia's landing on CNN. But I was so tired I didn't even <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> One Percent of Federal Funding For Space: America CAN Afford it!! LEO is a Prison -- It's time for a JAILBREAK!! </div>

rfoshaug · Feb 1, 2006

I remember watching the very first launch of Columbia in 1981, when i was 5 years old. It was part of what caused me to become so interested in space flight for decades to come. In 2003, I had already watched another shuttle (Discovery or Atlantis, don't remember) launch live on CNN - I had just realized that CNN was showing these things live. I missed the launch of Columbia, but when I read on space.com that it was returning that day, I decided to watch it live on CNN, as I had never before watched a Shuttle landing live on TV. One last check on the internet confirmed that Columbia had fired its thrusters and was returning to Earth. Local time here was about 2:50pm. Me and my brother went into the living room of my parents' house and switched on the TV and after a little while, CNN's Miles O'Brien reported that NASA had communications problems with Columbia and had lost radio contact. By this time I got a little worried, but I didn't know whether this was common or not. But as the landing time arrived, there was no shuttle. On CNN the text "Breaking news: Shuttle Landing Overdue" appeared. A couple of minutes after the scheduled landing time, it was clear that something very serious had happened. At this time we didn't know if the shuttle might have diverted or ditched for some reason, but we did know that this was unprecedented in the shuttle program and not very likely. My brother looked at me and said something like "S**t... They've lost Columbia" - only in Norwegian. Then came the first video recordings of the reentry. These showed the shuttle streaking across the early morning sky. The CNN reporters called it "a beautiful" shot of the reentry, and indeed it was beautiful. But at the same time it was very frightening, because at the end of the shot you could see small fireballs separating from the shuttle. As I had never watched a landing before, I didn't know if this was normal or not. The thermal protection system <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> ----------------------------------My minds have many opinions </div>

shoogerbrugge · Feb 1, 2006

Its a shame the thread concerning the last columbia launch on this forum wasn't saved. It gave me goosebumps everytime I read it. A couple of questions were posed about falling debris after launch and people said it would not be a problem. And during re-entry only slowly the feeling creeps up to you that something is wrong Its got that "any minute now" feeling to it. But alas as far as I know the topic was whiped away during the forum crash.

vt_hokie · Feb 1, 2006

I was on an Amtrak train traveling from Atlanta to New York. I remember waking up and getting dressed (I was in a sleeping compartment), and not long after a crew member made an announcement that the Columbia had just "crashed", as he put it, and it would be a good time to offer our prayers. I was shocked, needless to say. My first thought was that I hoped it was a landing accident - maybe a landing gear failure or something - and that just maybe the crew survived somehow. But I called my parents on my cell phone and told them to turn on the television, and needless to say I knew then how dire the situation was.

taxp · Sep 13, 2006

The Challenger thread gave me goose bumps as well. It was a terrific "living history" document, with a (then) real-time update by an engineer working for NASA. I'm still shocked and disgusted by its deletion, as I'm sure it was seen as an embarrassment. The fact that it was deleted and not restored underscores my lack of faith in the people running NASA, in that they are but one happy meal short of being the equivalent of FEMA. Though NASA doesn't run this site, their cooperation is integral to its success. Given the thread's popularity and significance, I don't believe for one second that it was deleted for administrative purposes. I wish someone archived it.

baktothemoon · Sep 13, 2006

I had a really bad Columbia memory, I just made it down there by chance for my first shuttle launch in person. Then watched on the news as it broke up. Great first launch.

telfrow · Sep 13, 2006

I'm still shocked and disgusted by its deletion, as I'm sure it was seen as an embarrassment. The fact that it was deleted and not restored underscores my lack of faith in the people running NASA, in that they are but one happy meal short of being the equivalent of FEMA. Though NASA doesn't run this site, their cooperation is integral to its success. Given the thread's popularity and significance, I don't believe for one second that it was deleted for administrative purposes. It wasn't deleted. It was lost, along with some member's post counts and all other threads after "The Great Crash." If you're implying there is some sort of conspiracy at work (NASA/SDC, et.al.), this thread and M & L is not the place for it. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild. - Tennyson </div>

JonClarke · Sep 13, 2006

Hi heard about it here at SDC. I did my usual early morning log in and saw the headline about the loss of Columbia. First first reaction was that it was a typo for Challenger (remember that anniversiary was coming up) and did not look at the story It was only after I saw the messages in the forum did I go back and check. For some reason I did not look at the TV and so did not seem the images until that night. A few weeks later I attended the memorial service held here in Canberra and signed the condolence book. I also left messages with the Indian and US embassies. Challenger I heard on the morning new in the shower. that time I did look at the TV and saw the dreadful scorpion shaped cloud. At that time loss of the crew had yet to be confirmed but seeing the explosion i knew nobody would survive that. Jon <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars Arthur Clarke </div>

PistolPete · Sep 13, 2006

I was in AIT in Ft. Bliss, Texas. It was a Satuday and I was put on a detail after breakfast. While I was working, someone came in and mentioned that the Space Shuttle had blown up. Everyone, even the drill sergents, droped what they were doing and went to the day room. I thought that the person that told us this must have made some mistake. But when I saw what was on the TV, I knew what had hapened. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai </div>

rocketwatcher2001 · Sep 13, 2006

I was in training in Atlanta, and the hotel we stayed at had a scheduled maintenance power out, so I went to breakfast at Waffle House. I was eager to call my family because they were going to watch the landing from our front yard. I was just about finished with my breakfast and there was a policeman eating, next to me. His cell phone rang and he said something and hung up. After he hung up he said that the Space Shuttle had exploded, which I thought nearly impossible, unless the hypergolics went screwy. I remembered that one of the Astronauts was from Israel, and thought a terrorist had shot it down while it was on short final into KSC. I raced back to my hotel, but the power was still out, so I went to the lobby of another hotel to see the news. A couple of my co-workers were in there, and I saw it happened over Texas, and I thought it was going at least mach 10, one of my co-workers looked at me, knowing I was a huge fan of the space program, he looked at me and silently asked me if I thought there was a chance for the crew, I just shook my head, and said no. An hour later the power can back on in our hotel and I logged into SDC. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

gawin · Sep 13, 2006

I was out side wating to finaly see the shuttle go over head as this was the first time it was to land in Florida that i lived here. When my cell phone rang and it was a good friend who lives in Texas telling me that a large chunck of the shuttle just hit in her back yard!!! and several smaller chunkes were scattered all over the area. She was also out side wating to see it go over. Lucky that no one was hurt but she was compleetly terrified. Ill never forget that day as I felt the loss and has to help Carley calm down.

3488 · Sep 14, 2006

I first found out about the loss of the Columbia, when my mother called me on my mobile & suggested that I turn the television on to BBC News 24, stating that Columbia had been destroyed during the final stages of re-entry. I think the fact there was an astronaut from Israel on board, that this could had been a terrorist attack (more hysteria unfortunately at the time). It was apparent that this was a tragic accident. STS 107, as far as I understand it, was the last science devoted Space Shuttle mission of the programme (all subsequent being devoted to the ISS & perhaps a HST servicing mission chucked in at some point). Columbia was a good spacecraft & had a great dedicated hard working crew on board, who genuinely thought, that their work on board Columbia on STS 107, would really make a difference & serve us all (I do believe that very strongly). A tragic loss, that should NEVER have happened. The same is true of Challenger on 51L, in January 1986 (so soon after the hugely successful Voyager 2 encounter with the Uranus system). I remember the NASA conference about the loss of 51L. They still had a large image of the crescent Uranus on the wall behind them (guess they had not gotten around to take it down at that point yet), as there had been a major press conference just a few days earlier, to celebrate Voyager 2 at Uranus. The mood could not have been any different this time after 51L. I thought it strange that they had the post Challenger 51L press conference at JPL, not at the KSC!! Perhaps the media still had their equipment there for Voyager 2 at Uranus & it was easier to hold it there?? Both losses should never have happened. Both crews along with Apollo 1, died in the service of mankind & must never be forgotten. Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before". Linda Morabito on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.http://www.launchphotography.com/ http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearthhttp://web.me.com/meridianijournal </div>

PistolPete · Sep 14, 2006

I could have sworn that I read somewhere on here that all of the old threads still existed, but it would have been imposibly time consuming to convert them all to the new format. If this is true, then I think it would be a good idea to make an archived threads forum and hand convert a few of the "classic" threads (i.e. the Columbia thread, the 9/11 thread, et al) and lock them to preserve them for posterity. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> So, again we are defeated. This victory belongs to the farmers, not us.-Kambei Shimada from the movie Seven Samurai </div>

CalliArcale · Sep 14, 2006

<blockquote>In reply to:<hr />It wasn't deleted. It was lost, along with some member's post counts and all other threads after "The Great Crash."<hr /></blockquote> A tremendous amount of fine, worthy material was lost on that day. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> One of the most poignant examples in my mind is the 9/11 thread -- created and updated as events were happening. The admins had specifically preserved that thread (and no other threads) when they did their archive purge a few years ago. (The system was getting seriously bogged down.) But then the Great Crash came along, and the thread was gone forever. So the Columbia thread was by no means the only one to be lost. <img src="/images/icons/frown.gif" /> I lost my post count, and even my account, in the Great Crash. The admins had to manually restore my account -- and dozens of other people too. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

lampblack · Sep 14, 2006

I had not been paying particular attention during Columbia's final mission -- catching a news item every now and again, mainly about the life-sciences work that was happening onboard. I woke up late that Saturday morning around 8:30 or so, and was sort of schlopping around, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper. Then my wife -- normally a very calm woman, even in dicey situations -- called out with an alarmed tone in her voice that I had heard only one time previously, on Sept. 11, 2001. "Charlie, come here!" she yelled. "Something terrible has happened!" I rushed into the kitchen, where she had been checking out the day's news online on one of our computers. Over her shoulder, I could see that CNN's web site was saying that the shuttle was overdue for landing -- and that NASA had declared a "contingency." I turned on the television to CBS. There, they were showing the fragments of what remained of the shuttle, descending in a blue sky over Texas. I stood behind my wife, looking at the television with my hands resting on her shoulders. "Oh, dear Lord," I said. "Those poor people." <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> Just tell the truth and let the chips fall... </div>

MeteorWayne · Sep 14, 2006

A similar story here. I was still asleep, and the SO, also normally calm and disinterested in space flight woke me up and said "You need to look at this". Even though the announcers didn't know for sure what was going on, one glance at the breakup video over Texas and I knew it was all over. A very bad day. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

CalliArcale · Sep 14, 2006

I was in the car on the way to worship team rehearsal when it was mentioned on the radio. The information was sufficiently sketchy that I was sure they were low and slow enough to attempt to bail out. That kept my hope alive for a good three hours, so it wasn't all bad to be wrong about that. Later I learned they'd been going Mach 15, and I knew it was a foregone conclusion that they were all dead. I followed it very closely afterwards. I collected all the pictures I could off of news agencies and such. I still have them, although I did transfer them to CD-ROM to save space on my hard disk. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

MeteorWayne · Sep 14, 2006

I also downloaded and read the entire CAIB report. Keep that as a reminder of what mistakes we humans can make. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

CalliArcale · Sep 14, 2006

I'm really looking forward to the all-hands meeting I have to go to for my regular job next week. Seriously. It'll be a guy from the CAIB giving a talk about the lessons learned in the Columbia accident, and how they apply to engineering organizations everywhere. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> "People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff." -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink" </div>

MeteorWayne · Sep 14, 2006

Sounds illuminating, even though being an astro person I would imagine you'll have some emotions welling up beneath the surface. I'm choked up just thinking about it. Please report back on the experience afterward. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id. I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function </div>

Your Columbia Memories

ascan1984

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mattblack

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rfoshaug

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shoogerbrugge

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vt_hokie

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taxp

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baktothemoon

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telfrow

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JonClarke

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PistolPete

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rocketwatcher2001

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gawin

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3488

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PistolPete

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CalliArcale

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lampblack

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MeteorWayne

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CalliArcale

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