Feb 1st, 2003 - Space shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry on mission STS-107. Cmdr. William C. McCool (Pilot), Capt. David M. Brown (Mission Specialist) and Cmdr. Laurel B. Clark (Mission Specialist) were killed in the incident, along with four other astronauts. 

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You know, I think its weird that everyone seemed to think that there was a "lesson" to be learned...other than the fact that space flight is dangerous.  I have heard the "lesson" thing from several people and I just think its odd.

The reason is, most tend to forget how successiful the space shuttle program has been...and how safe.  When the STS-107 mission (Columbia's final flight) launched, it was the 113th shuttle flight.  In 113 shuttle misisons there were 2 fatal flights...thats only 2/113 which means there is a 1.77% loss rate.  With space flight still being so experimental, I think thats pretty good-and its better than they expected.  When the shuttle was originally designed, they figured that each mission would carry a 2% risk.  Its true that they have made changes to prevent future problems like this...which needs to be done.  But, the foam thing just happened.  There had been many foam strikes in the past and the result never indicated that it was unsafe.  The Challenger accident is completely different, that was totally NASA's fault and they never should have allowed it to happen-they actually broke their own launch rules back on that day in 1986 and it cost them.  I personally feel that Columbia was just a freak event that happened and that they should (and did) take measures to fix the problem.  But, when someone says that "NASA learned their lesson" it seems to be like there is blame being cast...which in this case there was no need for.  The Columbia accident was nobodies fault, it was simply a series of events that happened all at the exact wrong time...and like I said already; all the evidence they had seen indicated that the foam was safe.  It's good that they fixed it, but space flight carries risk and it always will-thats just the nature of it.    It's sad to lose 7 astronauts, and we can't forget what they gave their lives for...but in this case, there is no one to blame.

(...and I'm not attacking your comment Bjorn, I know what you ment-that spaceflight is dangerous and that tends to be forgotten with constant success.  But, I was just venting about what a lot of people seem to think).

I would also like to point out that the 7 men and women on that flight were a group of the best kind of people.  They were willing to take time out of their busy schedules in order to respond to those of us out there who are interested in their work and admire them.  So much so, that the crew sent me this in November of 2002...only a couple months before their mission began.  It is one of my most prized possessions.

i remember that day well.

shortly after hitting the snooze button on my alarm clock, i had a lesson to give to a student in the school's 172 and i didnt get much sleep so i was getting ready for the day and pissing and moaning about wishing i could get another hour sleep in. then suddenly there was an absolutely earth shattering kaboom. i sprung out of bed and ran to the window expecting to see a semi truck embedded into the wall of the apartment building or at least to see a huge thunderstorm over my roof. But everything seemed normal and it was a beautiful day out. with that i trew on my shirt and went to the airport only minutes away. when i got there my student - actaally it was a BFR - had the airplane ready to go so we loaded up and went flying. during the flight i saw an abnormally high number of "burning piles" where people burn their trash or leaves or what not. it all made sense to me when the frequency came to life with orders for local aircraft to land at the nearest airport or risk collision with falling debris from the space shuttle which had apparently exploded on re-entry. "WHAT?!"  i thought. those werent anyones burning trash piles... that was a crash site that stretched hundreds of miles long.

we landed and turned on the news - everything i had scheduled was canceled the rest of the day. it wasnt long before the FAA established a temporary flight restriction dead center over my home airport. i was out of business for about a week or so. Suddenly my home airport, and many of the surrounding airports became home to hundreds of search helicopters. it was amazing. our normally dull ramp which usually heard the sputtering of a small lycoming engine only a few times a day was literally alive with search choppers arriving and departing every couple of minutes. some would return empty handed, others would return carrying chunks of the space shuttle as big as a refrigerator. helmets, instruments, chunks of aluminum shielded with tiles even human remains would come into our little airport. they would be placed in a hangar and guarded and eventually get carted off to another location. eventually i think it all went to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana.

i guess it was well into April or may when the last search chopper left the ramp. very surreal to go through all of that for a few months... our little strip became as busy as a carrier deck for a while... but when the thumping of those rotors went away on that spring day, the only thing you could hear was the wind moving through the tall grass beside the runway, the occasional rattle of the plastic 15 foot tall avfuel sign in the breeze... and of course the occasional little lycoming engine passing overhead for another touch and go.

The man i did the BFR for... he was killed in a helicopter crash when the engine failed at low altitude, he struck power lines in an attempt to land the out of control chopper. This was about 18 months ago. 

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This is a sad story. 

It's been a while since I've been there - the price has definitely increased - but I recall it was very rewarding.

At the time I had the choice of the modern (shuttle) tour or the historical (Mercury, Gemini, Apollo) tour.  I chose the historical tour.

I really should go back.  I've lived in Florida for most of my life but I have never seen a liftoff close up.  I can see the night launches from my back yard but it's like watching a really bright shooting star going up instead of down and it only lasts a few seconds.

Time flies way tooooo fast. If you would have asked me, I would have said about two years ago.

Matt

Well as the old gag goes "What does NASA stand-for?" Need Another Seven Astronauts