Hot Entry News Today

♪ ♪ ♪ -my wife, laurel, was on the shuttle. she was a scientist primarily involved with life sciences. one day during the mission, i was reviewing the notes, and then heres this foam issue. during launch, a large piece of foam had come off the external tank and impacted the left wing. me and my colleague had this discussion of, "hey, you can use a family conference to talk to laurel and find out what she knew." -oh! -you got to remember the hat youre wearing is your flight-surgeo...

Thats the stomach punch right there. ♪ -and columbia, houston, we see your tire-pressure messages , and we did not copy your last. -roger. ♪ -i remember that clipped call that rick had , knowing you can have communications that drop out or are intermittent at that point. ♪ -we lost comm with the crew, but thats actually common. i mean, you dont have communications all the way through entry . so that didnt initially get my attention. ♪ -good morning to you. im miles obrien. it is now 9:00...

-i was recounting all of the pushback that we were getting from management -- two weeks of just utter frustration and anger. -we talked a lot about the worst-case scenario. -if theyre having trouble with the wing, it would be during entry, when the shuttle and the astronauts are coming on that hot entry, high-speed hot entry, into the earths atmosphere and theyre going to attempt a landing. ♪ ♪ -you know, its been a long 16 days, and so were all just super-excited to see our loved ones again...

We lost comm with the crew, but thats actually common. I mean, you dont have communications all the way through entry. So that didnt initially get my attention. Good morning to you. Im miles obrien. It is now 9 00 a. M. On the east coast, 6 00 a. M. Out west. Take a look outside. You should see what looks like a streaking meteor. Its actually the Space Shuttle Columbia coming back. Were watching it. Landing about 15 minutes away. Weve also lost the Nose Gear down talkback and the right main gear...

The night before landing, we went out to dinner, and i was still concerned. We really dont know the damage yet. It could be bad. Thats all we talked about the landing the next morning and how things had gone so badly the last two weeks. I was recounting all of the pushback that we were getting from management two weeks of just utter frustration and anger. We talked a lot about the worstcase scenario. If theyre having trouble with the wing, it would be during entry, when the shuttle and the astro...