Landing did not occur

I just learned about the crash of the Shuttle Columbia.

I did not know any of the crew. I was unaware of the nature of their mission. I was not following their landing. But these people were doing something too challenging and too rare – something the rest of us will never get to do. Something always dangerous, and something they loved.

Shuttle commander Rick D. Husband
Pilot William C. McCool
Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson
Mission Specialist David M. Brown
Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla
Mission Specialist Laurel Clark
Israel astronaut Ilan Ramon

These men and women have my respect in life and death. Their families have my condolences. All of them have my prayer. We as a nation, and a world, suffer from their loss.

HOUSTON, Texas (CNN) — The space shuttle Columbia broke up as it descended over Texas Saturday toward a planned landing at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, showering debris across southeastern Texas and into Louisiana.

NASA officials at the Johnson Space Center in Houston said they last had contact with the shuttle about 9 a.m. EST, and it had been expected to touch down at about 9:16 a.m. EST.

Video of the shuttle tracking over Dallas showed multiple vapor trails, but NASA spokesman Kyle Herring said it was too early to determine the source.

The flag near the countdown clock at Kennedy Space Center was lowered to half-staff.

The Israeli Embassy in Washington has dispatched a small team to Florida to be with Col. Ilan Ramon’s wife, four children and his parents, a spokesman for the Israeli embassy told CNN.

Ramon’s family members had traveled from Israel to watch the planned return of the shuttle to the Kennedy Space Center Saturday morning.

Ramon’s father was at a television station watching the unfolding coverage. Ramon, 48, took part in the 1981 bombing of the nuclear reactor in Iraq.

Former Senator John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth and returned to space at age 77, told The Associated Press that he had he met Husband while he was training for his 1998 mission. He said he was watching the landing on television with his wife.

House Democratic leaders, who were holding a meeting in Pennsylvania, ended the session with a prayer for the seven astronauts.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those on board,” House Democratic Leader Nacy Pelosi told The Associated Press. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the American people who place so much hope and who associate themselves with the courage and the bravery of those who venture into space.”

Columbia is the oldest of NASA’s shuttle fleet, first launched in 1981. It was on its 28th mission. The shuttle underwent an extensive, 17-month overhaul that began in September, 1999.

It rejoined the shuttle fleet in February, 2001 and flew its first mission after the upgrades in March, 2002.

Quoted from an article Copyright 2003 CNN, used without permission. For full story, visit:
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/02/01/shuttle.columbia/index.html

I was in a Government class in high-school. We were working on a writing project in class. It was quiet. I sat near the front of class, and was talking quietly with the teacher and a friend. I observed the excited face of another teacher stare in through the narrow window of the door to our class, then moving quickly on.

I wondered briefly what would cause this teacher to be out in the hall, or make him appear excited, during class time. But I let the pondering fade back in my mind as our teacher had moved to the blackboard to tell the class some finer point of writing that we three had been discussing just moments before.

She had just turned her back to the room, her spoken words being echoed in chalk when our door opened, and the same excited teacher stuck his head into the room. He stared straight at me, communicating with his eyes something of import, before glancing at our teacher and sharing with the room these words: “The Challenger exploded on launch.”

The echo in the room was fading. The door was closing on an empty doorway. My teacher turned to the class, then to me. She gave a short nod to me and my friend, and we both bolted out the door.

The library was just across the hall from my class. Since the beginning, our library always had a TV on, covering shuttle activities. I had already popped my head in earlier in the day to see the countdown activities.

There were already a crowd of 10 students and almost as many staff gathered in a loose arch around the tv, and I saw the playback of the disaster for the first time.

An orange fireball engulfed the shuttle as the booster rockets made wild weasels and I thought, “What a beautiful way to die.” No pain, no time for fear. Your mind focused on your job. You die a hero, with the admiration and respect of a nation you had never even met.

I managed to get excused from my next two classes, although by afternoon most of the news to be had, had already been, and I managed to sit through my last class.

It was the first “Kennedy” of my generation. We all felt it and knew it. Then, like now, will follow all the investigations and finger pointing, and after the fluff of whitewashing finally rinses away, things will be better because of this. I think in the end, this will be found to be a “routine” malfunction – granted, of extrordinary nature. Missions will continue, Mars will continue. So will the station.

We as a people must see that they do. The motto of the state of Kansas is “Ad astra per aspera” — it is often translated as “To the Stars through Difficulty”.

And so it is.

Landing:KSC February 1, 9:16 a.m. 2003 (Estimated – Landing did not occur)

Deorbit burn occured at 8:15 a.m. EST (1315 GMT) for a planned landing on KSC Runway 33. Communication was lost with Columbia at 9:00am EST while Columbia was at approximately 200,000ft over Central Texas while the vehicle was traveling at 12,500 mph.

NASA STS-107(113)
Last Updated Saturday February 1 11:49:43 EDT 2003
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-107/mission-sts-107.html