CNN documentary on the Columbia space shuttle disaster

Cafe Society
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Did you see this documentary? Titled, Space Shuttle Columbia: The Final Flight (CNN); CNN article link here

On our eclipse road trip I was listening to CNN on satellite radio and caught a commercial about it. Fortunately we were able to set it to record (YouTube TV, you are fast growing on me!). It’s a 4 part series that concluded last night with parts 3 and 4 back to back. Part 1 was 2 weeks ago Sunday.

To remind, the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated on re-entry on a Saturday morning, 21 years ago. The date was Saturday 01 February 2003. 7 astronauts lost their lives. 6 were Americans and 1 was Israeli, the first Israeli astronaut. The root cause of the failure occurred during the launch, 16 days prior, when a piece of polyurethane foam insulation about 2’ x 1’ x 6” thick broke off from the large external fuel tank (the ET, external tank) and struck the leading edge of the shuttle’s left wing. The strong material on that leading wing edge, RCC or reinforced carbon-carbon (wiki link here), was deemed by NASA management to be impenetrable, but on re-entry the hole in the RCC allowed hot gases to enter and destroy the shuttle from within. Investigations later disclosed that ET foam debris had caused some damage on other shuttle launches, but none had apparently damaged the RCC surfaces.

Do you remember where you were when you learned about the Columbia space shuttle disaster? I certainly do. I was on my way to work and heard about it on the radio. When I got to the office, my boss was there and I told her about it. The office was empty (being a Saturday) and she and I were the only ones in. I had a lot of work to do and I knew they were gone, beyond hope of any survivors, so I just buried my head in the work that needed to be done.

It must’ve been a crunch time at work because in those days I didn’t tune in to the disaster and investigation. I was working long days and hours. We must’ve had a major release going.

After finishing the documentary last night I found some good YouTube videos about it. If I can find the link for a particularly good one, I’ll share it here.

And I should call my brother (the Zoomie) and discuss it with him. After he got out of the Air Force he worked on space shuttle landing scenarios. I bet he researched it pretty well. I remember him getting us into the sims at JSC Houston and proving to us that the space shuttle could do a loop and a barrel roll and still land safely at Edwards AFB.

Rest in Peace, Husband, McCool, Brown, Clark, Chawla, Anderson, and Ramon.

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I’ve watched the first 2 eps. Got the next 2 recorded.

I barely remember it happened. So it’s been eye-opening.

I, of course, love all things space. Ignorant of the science as I am.

The human side is what intrigued me, in the first 2.

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I had slept a little late that morning. When I got up, my wife–already up and watching the news–tersely mentioned, “They’ve lost contact with the Space Shuttle.” I knew immediately it was an “Oh $#!+” moment. They were already showing footage of the foam strike, and the analyst mentioned that that might have been related.

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I moved this to the Cafe from MPSIMS, it just feels like a better fit. The Doc part of this belongs in Cafe at least.

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I was at a casino in Tunica, Mississippi accompanying my wife on a work trip. The disaster dominated the news that morning and I happened to catch it on television as I got dressed.

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I was driving to the Honda dealer to drop off my Accord for service.

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Sitting in my living room of my old apartment, at my computer. I know for a fact I first read about it right here on the Dope.

We didn’t have cable (poor, starving students!) and I don’t think there was anything about it on the 2.5 channels we could tune into until the regular news hours, so I read news stories and discussion here.

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@What_Exit thank you for moving this. CS fits best for this.

Your experience reminds me of mine with Challenger. In those years I worked a late night shift in San Francisco, loading the big rig tractor trailer trucks for UPS, from 2300 to 0230. A P/T job with F/T benefits and excellent pay, which I needed for my young family while I worked through my college courses. I was asleep when my (then) wife woke me to say it exploded during the launch. Blatantly, an “Oh $#!+” moment.

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I was a member of the press at the first launch of the Space Shuttle, which was Columbia.
I don’t remember what I was doing when I heard about the disaster, but I followed the investigation closely. You can see the Enterprise wing that was used to confirm the foam-impact theory at the Udvar-Hazy center near Dulles airport.

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I was at my local airport getting ready to fly. We all pretty much stopped to watch. At a certain point all we pilots knew it was over and the astronauts were gone although the talking heads kept trying to be hopeful a bit longer.

Looks like this is the original thread on the Dope:
We’ve Just Lost a Shuttle!

There were a few others around the same time.

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I certainly do; there are exactly two world events in my childhood where I remember exactly where I was and what was happening when I learned about them, and those are 9/11 and the Columbia disaster.

I’d been hearing about Ramon at school and on TV since before he took off. My grandpa was particularly excited about the first Israeli astronaut. He and my grandma came to visit on the day of reentry, and my parents had actually forgotten that this was the day on which it was planned; but he reminded us, so we turned the TV to the news. I don’t remember the announcement that contact was lost, but I remember watching the video of the breakup.

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I was there last summer. How did I miss seeing that??!!

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For Challenger I was at sea, off the east coast – I was the first person on the boat to hear about it. Not sure about Columbia, but it might have been the same.

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I’m wrong, sort-of.

The Enterprise was at Udvar-Hazy, but is now at the Intrepid, in NYC. Discovery has taken its place. I have been to both, and I was confused as to where it was. Here is a photo of damage to the heat-shield tiles after an impact test:

Imgur

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Okay. I couldn’t remember which shuttle is there at the Udvar-Hazy Center and I had to look it up. It is Discovery. If they had any information about the heat shield tiles damage or foam debris, I don’t remember. Or I may not have seen it.

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I remember looking on the TV at a news banner that said “Columbia overdue” and I’m like ohhhhhh hell no, it’s not the White Star Line, it doesn’t work like that.

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Nope. I really have no memory of this at all. From the date I would have been at college but I don’t remember anything about it.

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I don’t remember exactly where I was when I learned about the disaster (probably because it unfolded kind of slowly over an hour or so, between the initial report of some kind of problem to the confirmation of what had happened, in stark contrast with something like Challenger, where it’s an instant no-doubt event).

However, I remember very clearly the screaming match I had with someone later that day, when that person was making fun of people like me who had an emotional response to the loss, saying we were idiots for caring about “a bunch of dead space cadets,” and making tasteless jokes recycled from the Challenger years. That was fun.

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I remember that my wife and I were having coffee and watching the news, when the news cut to a shot of the remains of Columbia streaking across the sky, shedding parts.

I watched the CNN documentary. It filled in a lot of the blanks, and answered a lot of questions. Well worth watching. If you missed it the first time but want to see it, CNN often reruns their original films on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Watch your listings.

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I should visit the Kennedy Space Center to see the memorial about it. My cousin lives close to there yet never have gone.