Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy. 10 Years ago today
 

Feb 1 2003, Shuttle busted up over Texas.....


Where were you?




http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp...21475e6dab.1d1




With somber ceremonies, the United States on Friday commemorated the loss of the space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew on the tenth anniversary of the disaster.

Columbia, NASA's first space shuttle orbiter to be put into service, disintegrated during re-entry on February 1, 2003, as it was ending its 28th mission.

All seven astronauts on board died in the landmark incident that triggered the end of the shuttle mission.

"Ten years ago, seven brave astronauts gave their lives in the name of exploration when America's first flight-ready space shuttle, Columbia, failed to return safely to Earth," President Barack Obama said in a statement.

At a ceremony at the Space Mirror Memorial on the grounds of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, those remembering the dead included Evelyn Husband Thompson, the widow of the shuttle commander Rick Husband, as well as former astronauts and representatives of the US space agency, NASA.

Meanwhile, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and a delegation gathered at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington where three of Columbia's crew members are buried.

Columbia's demise was triggered when a loose piece of insulating foam from the external fuel tank that had peeled off during the shuttle's launch 16 days earlier struck one of Columbia's carbon composite wings.

After the incident, the administration of former president George W. Bush decided to put an end to the shuttle program, allowing the three remaining orbiters to fly only as long as it took to complete the International Space Station -- in 2011 -- and to honor Washington's commitments to its partners.

Aside from 45-year-old Husband and his co-pilot William McCool, 41, the crew consisted of: Kalpana Chawla (41), Michael Anderson (43), Laurel Clark (41), David Brown (46) and Ilan Ramon (48), Israel's first astronaut.

Six of the seven were married and together they had a total of 12 children.

Friday's annual Day of Remembrance also honors others killed in other space-related incidents.

Three American astronauts died after a fire swept through the Apollo 1 aircraft during a test run in January 1967, and the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986 shortly after take-off killed all seven crew members aboard.

"As we undertake the next generation of discovery, today we pause to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice on the journey of exploration," Obama said.

When I first saw this I was thinking Challenger.

That was now slightly over 27 years ago. Jesus I'm old...

RIP to both brave crews.

I think this happened on a Saturday or Sunday. I took this picture in my hometown of Independence at Sundown the night this happened. The big flag is flown by a motel at I-70 and Noland Road. Thought it was an appropriate reminder of what that day was like.

http://i49.tinypic.com/11t36np.jpg

Holy crap. Thats where I stay st when I come down to chiefs games.

It was in the morning, around 9:15 to 9:30 am or so. I heard the boom and ran outside to check it out. Saw the trail, but it was really weak, so wasn't sure if that was it. Spent the rest of the morning watching TV and checking news reports and updates on CP.

Yea it happened on a Sat morning, so for whatever reason, the story didnt seem to get as big and tragic as much as the Challenger one did.

I searched for the original thead on CP to bump, but couldnt find one?

Hmmm....no luck for me neither. I'll keep digging.

I was eating breakfast at a diner in Hutchinson, KS. Ten years already?? Wow.

I remember I was in a barber shop that day & watching the coverage.

Ironically, I was in that same barber shop yesterday.

I was at a conference in Texas. They had TVs on in the lobby showing the footage.

I was in college.

No wonder you don't remember

I don't remember what I was doing when this happened, but I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing when the Challenger blew up.

I bet your hair was getting really long.

I think your not alone. For whatever reason, this disaster didnt touch the American psyche quite as hard.

I dnt remember what I was doing. Coyote hunting I think.
I remember where I was for the Challenger, High school science class. Very sad days both of them.
Watching NASA be tossed aside like an old used doll. Is the saddest & one of the most maddening things for me personally

It was a Saturday, IIRC - I had to work that day and was driving into Chicago listening on the radio. The local news radio station was broadcasting what they thought would be the landing and I just happened to have it on. I remember the first thing they said was that the shuttle was "overdue." Didn't sound good at the time, and kept getting worse and worse.

I remember both clearly.

Just in case anyone is interested, here is a link to the accident investigation report. Very interesting reading. I have read parts of it, and NASA had multiple opportunities to prevent the accident.
http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/home/CAIB_Vol1.html

Damn time flies.

Seems like just yesterday.

Here's a pic of the Space Shuttle Enterprise that just landed in Houston at the Johnson Space Center.

They are refurbishing it for public viewing.

When they get done it will be the only Shuttle that you can play around in the cockpit.

I was in 5th grade for Challenger, for Columbia was in class at the time it happened, found out about 3 hours after it happened. I was working on my BA degree.

My brother who lived in Titusville Fl, right down the road from Canaveral called me and woke me up. They were all freaking out because the shuttle was supposed to land and hadn't made it to Florida yet.

I was hungover as hell and sleeping on my couch after getting just blasted the night before.

I laid on the couch and watched CNN all day.

didnt the crew supposedly survive the blast and die when the hit earth?

That was Challenger.

I was finishing college as well and I don't remember this at all. Jeez.

Columbia- Was watching it live on FoxNews

Challenger - I was working at a construction company helping build a fire station and heard it on the radio

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almost as sad as the history of the chiefs franchise

Both stories were bad. Challenger was really bad, because it was the first time NASA had deaths since Apollo 1 (Grissom-White-Chaffee). Also, it blew up in such a spectacular manner, like a giant Bottle Rocket.

Columbia was bad because the crew was only 16 minutes from landing safely. They didn't know the ship had a fatal wound in the left wing. It was a hole that let hot gas into the body of the ship on re-entry. They were doomed when they decided to land.

Challenger -- I was in college and came back from class to my dorm room, flipped on the TV and it had just blown up. So I skipped the rest of my classes and watched the coverage.

Columbia -- Was out running Saturday errands with the wife and walked into Books-A-Million to browse. There was a TV on in the magazine section (on CNN, IIRC) and it was probably 10-20 minutes or so after they had lost contact. I kind of went numb, went over to the wife and told her we needed to go home.

I was at work at the Berbiglia on Belleview.

I was in Hawaii with my wife, turned on the TV and there it was, buzz kill.

I honestly don't remember where I was. Does that make me a bad person?

I remember I was in my bedroom when Elvis died, in study hall in high school when the Challenger blew up, in a condo in Ormond Beach Florida when JFK Fr, died and eating breakfast with my insurance agent in a small diner when 9/11 happened though.

Think it was a Saturday morning. Woke the wife up. Couldn't comprehend what we were witnessing.

Columbia, I was still asleep. Woke up and saw the news just a little while after they had the footage.

Challenger I was in 4th grade on the playground. They cancelled recess and called us all back inside. I remember teachers crying.

I had never seen that video of Columbia before. wow

This one goes farther after the Challenger explosion. Warning... sad stuff.


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Imagine watching your daughter explode right in front of you.

And you know they're gone forever.

I think I read something that they might have survived and didn't die in the explosion and they crashed into ocean. I think I read that.....hmmm

Im sure it has just slipped from memory, but this is the first Ive heard about the Columbia, have no recollection of it at all.

Can't even imagine. Weird watching Krista McCauliffes (sp?) mom and dad on there. They didn't know what was going on or what to even think.

It makes sense. I mean the challenger crew's family's reaction was caught on tape. That's ****ing reality TV there.

That would be ****ing terrible. Did they continue to announce the real time status of shuttle liftoffs on the loudspeaker after that? probably not a good idea.

When the Challenger blew up I was in the Navy in port in San Diego and we all gathered around the Mess Deck watching the news.

When Columbia went down my wife and I were just heading out of the lodge to hop on a ski lift in Mammoth

If you watch the video it seems they did although after the explosion those became few and far between. It seemed everyone including control was trying to figure out wtf.

edit... I see what you were saying now... and I don't know.

I can't believe it has been that long. Seems like only yesterday I was in 8th grade and watching the events unfold on TV that day.

RIP to that brave crew

Damn, I'm old. I was a junior for the Challenger disaster.

I still remember the three astronauts killed in a capsule fire on the ground while training for an Apollo mission.

I was very young but still remember it on the news on an old B&W.

No they still do it.

My best friends wife is an engineer at JSC (Johnson Space Center). They've been to several launches.

Those people are at the VIP viewing center next to the Saturn V exhibit at Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island

About 3 miles from Pad 39A.

Have you ever seen a Saturn V rocket close up?

Amazing what engineers and scientists can come up with.

Several stories high and nothing but fuel with a little tiny capsule on top.

Mercury rockets by comparison look like little toys.

I watched a documentary last night on this and what is sad is that a lot of engineers were extremely worried about the damage to the shuttles wing from the foam piece hitting it during take off, and even though they tried to tell the people in charge, it was ignored.

Nobody believed a small piece of foam could put a hole in it until they replicated it after the fact.

If those astronauts were to do a space walk to check the damage of the wing, they could've attempted to dock with the next shuttle up and came back alive, but some people at NASA got lazy.

columbia didn't get as much run because we had just lost thousands of american lives in 9/11 plus tons of body's coming home from the War in iraq/Afganistan.

Just proves there are idiots at all levels. They think they are so smart that they don't have to listen to other smart people.

"And this is the best that you c - that the-the government, the *U.S. government* can come up with? I mean, you-you're NASA for cryin' out loud, you put a man on the moon, you're geniuses! You-you're the guys that think this shit up! I'm sure you got a team of men sitting around somewhere right now just thinking shit up and somebody backing them up! You're telling me you don't have a backup plan, that these eight boy scouts right here, that is the world's hope, that's what you're telling me? "

You are too young.

Been there done that. I have also seen the Russian stuff. Also have seen some of the Chinese stuff as well. Also have seen American astronauts doing their stuff in the pool in Houston. I went to 25th anniversary of the space camp at the Kansas Comosphere I was the only oldest classment to make it not in age but when I went. My brother was the the second for that weekend.

We went to a shuttle launch, like got special passes and stuff that let us be relatively close to the launch just a year or so before this happened. It is an absolutely breathtaking sight. I wish I could remember which shuttle it was that launched....

And now it's been 20.

RIP Columbia crew.