I was in the kitchen drinking coffee and watching the news on the T.V. The Space Shuttle Columbia was making its final approach over Texas for touchdown at the Cape. I was following its radar trajectory since it almost directly passed over Hawaii and how fast it made it to the west coast. As it approached Texas, they had live film. I got the Juju Woman’s attention and as she turned toward the screen, she said “thats pretty cool”, and then asked “whats happening.” I said, “damn, I think it just exploded”.
The reality was, even while Columbia was still in orbit, some engineers suspected damage, but NASA managers limited the investigation, on the grounds that little could be done even if problems were found. Think about that for a moment. No way out. No solution to this problem.
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I remember far more vividly the Challenger explosion 27 years earlier, for I was a senior in high school then, and it was all the more shocking because it was unthinkable at the time. As equally tragic the demise of the Columbia was, my reaction then was more of a somber “damn, not again”, rather than the outright shock and horror I felt that morning back in ‘86.
I remember that well. I a little south of the Cape in Florida outside watching the launch. It never got to an attitude where I could see it. Seen ‘em before from the same place.
I was was watching the special report of the landing and then I saw smoke trails going in different directions…..I prayed. I was teaching high school biology when the Challenger met her fate. My kids went silent and I prayed then. Godspeed astronauts!
For the Challenger I was at work. I was stationed at NAS Oceana in Va. Beach. For the Columbia, we were at or on or way to the bowling alley to watch my son bowl in the Special Olympic tournament sponsored by the AMVETS. Powerful images burned into memory.