Launch on Need, Daniel Guiteras [the giving tree read aloud TXT] 📗
- Author: Daniel Guiteras
Book online «Launch on Need, Daniel Guiteras [the giving tree read aloud TXT] 📗». Author Daniel Guiteras
Launch on Need is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews.
Copyright © 2010 by Daniel Guiteras
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-615-37221-1
E-Book ISBN: 978-1-4392-8965-5
Published in the United States by T-Cell Books
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ignition!
Printed in the United States of America
Cover photo credit: NASA/Diametric Gerondidakis
In Memoriam
The Crew of Columbia, STS-107
Rick D. Husband CommanderWilliam C. McCool PilotMichael P. Anderson Payload CommanderDavid M. Brown Mission SpecialistKalpana Chawla Mission SpecialistLaurel Blair Salton Clark Mission SpecialistIlan Ramon Payload Specialist
Columbia Debris Search Team
Jules F. Mier, Jr.
Debris Search Pilot
Charles Krenek
Debris Search Aviation Specialist
The crew members lost that morning were explorers in the finest tradition, and since then, everyone associated with the Board has felt that we were laboring in their legacy. Ours, too, was a journey of discovery: We sought to discover the conditions that produced this tragic outcome and to share those lessons in such a way that this nation’s space program will emerge stronger and more sure-footed. If those lessons are truly learned, then Columbia’s crew will have made an indelible contribution to the endeavor each one valued so greatly.
(Excerpt from the Columbia Accident Investigation Board’s Opening Statement.)
Columbia Payload Configuration for STS-107
NASA graphic, CAIB Report Vol. I, Page 31
For Lisa, Caitlyn and Emily
The three brightest stars
in my universe
Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
In Memoriam
Introduction
Part I The Discovery
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Part II The Challenge
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Part III The Endeavor
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Epilogue
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Introduction
ON THE MORNING of Feb. 1, 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia’s international crew of seven astronauts, having spent 16 highly productive days in space, were finally ready to come home. So, to begin their one-hour journey from orbit to Earth, Columbia’s commander and pilot prepared the reentry software and positioned Columbia for a de-orbit burn. Then, at 8:15 A.M. E.S.T. during Columbia’s 255th orbit, they executed a burn lasting precisely two minutes and 38 seconds. The crew was set to touch down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 9:15 A.M. E.S.T.
Engineers and managers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Mission Control were monitoring what seemed like a typical reentry, when suddenly Columbia’s left wing sensors began to fail. First, four hydraulic sensors in the left wing failed; then, five minutes later, both left main landing-gear tires lost pressure. Seventeen seconds later at 8:59:32 A.M. E.S.T., the final transmission from the crew was heard. The crew and space plane were lost. Columbia had been just 16 minutes from home.
Less than two hours after Mission Control lost contact with Columbia, NASA officials formed the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The Board’s mission was to identify the physical and organizational causes of the accident. It spent more than six months analyzing Columbia’s flight data, conducting interviews of key NASA personnel and space shuttle contractors, and reviewing communications between NASA personnel.
The Board also enlisted the help of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which directed over 250 organizations and more than 25,000 workers on a foot search of Columbia’s debris field. The field spanned an area of over 700,000 acres from east Texas to western Louisiana. FEMA alone spent over $305 million on the search. When the search concluded, 38 percent of Columbia’s dry weight had been recovered.
In August 2003, the Board released its findings in the “Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) Report.” The report is comprehensive, covering the history of the Space Shuttle Program, the objectives of Columbia’s final mission, astronaut training, accident analysis, key e-mail communications between NASA personnel during the mission and, finally, detailed recommendations to NASA for preventing another accident. The entire CAIB report can be downloaded at no cost from the government’s dedicated CAIB Web site, caib.nasa.gov.
The CAIB report is concise, often fascinating, often technical, and frequently heartrending. It succeeds in explaining the complex interplay between NASA management and engineering staff. Despite the vast depth and breadth of the report, a few key points are worth summarizing in order to provide sufficient background to the reader about what actually happened to Columbia.
As to the physical cause of the accident the CAIB concluded this:
The loss of Columbia and its crew was a breach in the Thermal Protection System on the leading edge of the left wing. The breach was initiated by a piece of insulating foam that separated from the left bipod ramp of the External Tank and struck the wing in the vicinity of the lower half of Reinforced Carbon-Carbon panel 8 at 81.9 seconds after launch. During re-entry, this breach in the Thermal Protection System allowed superheated air to penetrate the leading-edge insulation and progressively melt the aluminum
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