Yesterday I wrote about the Shuttle Program coming to an end and all the remaining vehicles being retired. As always, it made me think about the first Shuttle launch I ever witnessed with my own eyes. I wrote about that launch on the anniversary of the tragedy. And today, I think of the other tragedy.
It had been a long time since the Challenger disaster and things were becoming routine with the launches again. NASA and program were going strong, they had a good safety record, and sometimes, the news did not even bother to cover the event.
I would always try to catch the liftoffs and the landings as best I could. The launch happened on January 16, 2003 and the plan called for a landing in Florida on February 1.
I remember that day well. It was a Saturday and shortly before 9 a.m. on the east coast. We were up and about, with no real plans. I was eating a bowl of cereal, Banana Nut Crunch, and Spike was doing his cat thing, weaving in and out between my feet as I stood in the living room watching for Columbia on television.
Then the routine turned into the extraordinary. The talking heads started talking about the wrong things. There was talk about lost communication, there was talk about “anomalies,” and then there was confirmation. That awful confirmation.
Before long, there were the images of the vehicle streaking across the sky, much like a shooting star. More like several shooting stars.
What followed next was one of the largest searches for debris in the history of the space program or aviation. Military personnel, local law enforcement, the Civil Air Patrol, regular citizens—all, everyone, went out to conduct one of the most grim searches ever.
The STS-107 crew includes, from the left, Mission Specialist David Brown, Commander Rick Husband, Mission Specialists Laurel Clark, Kalpana Chawla and Michael Anderson, Pilot William McCool and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. (NASA photo)
The loss of Columbia was very similar to the events of seven years before. Only this time, it was a landing loss instead of a liftoff loss. A loss, all the same.
Seven more wonderful people taken from us far too soon.
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© 2011 J. Clark
I helped my granddaughter do a poster/project for African American History Month on Ronald E McNair. We also summarized contributions of other Black Americans in the space program. It was very unique compared to the usual topics for these school projects. We took second place in grades 1 – 3 !
He was an accomplished musician, too. Really, these wonderful peoples’ lives were cut far too short.
Thanks for the reminder, Joe. Big losses on all counts.