Page 216 - Outer Space News Today

You know, youre in a relatively safe situation. you can safely walk away from the camera. and they started quickly playing the launch replays, and -- and that was when we saw it. i was in our truck. producer called me in. he said, "you got to look at this." it was kind of a grainy image, but, you know, you see this poof, like a -- like you dropped a bag of flour on the ground and it all floated into the air. didnt take much of a telephoto to show this kind of explosion. he played it over and ove...

-the space shuttle columbia is safe in orbit, and here at the kennedy space center in florida, nasa and the us air force. breathing a collective sigh of relief. ♪ -theyre in orbit, and thats when youre -- you know, youre home free. -so it was like a sigh of relief when they -- when they were, you know, up in space, and it was like, "whew, they made it." -lets take a look at the view from orbit. this is 225 kilometers above us. ♪ -once they turn off those main engines and theyre in orbit,

-the mission aboard the orbiter columbia is a 24/7 science marathon.

[ indistinct conversations ] -its a weird feeling, you know? your loved one is strapped into that vehicle, and its getting ready to launch. i just thought, "i have absolutely no control over how this is gonna go." -gls is go for orbiter access arm retract.

♪ [ radio crackling ] -mom? mom? i miss you. -hi. -we talked using the early tele-video conferencing capability and super low-tech bandwidth. its ratty comm, but its a very special time.

And she just said, "i just want you to know how much we at nasa appreciate how you cover space." i was worried about her and her kids. anytime a shuttle is going to come to earth, id be worried. in this case, i had a little more worry. ♪ -columbia, houston, good morning, and were looking forward to our last day on orbit with you. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ -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,

♪ -columbia, houston, good burn, no trim required. -houston, thanks. -we will meet you in post-burn.

♪ -i mean, we were just waiting on the runway for him to land. its gonna happen right in front of us and were very excited. all the crew kids are just enjoying each other, too, so running up and down the bleachers and just enjoying being there. ♪ -at the runway, there was just a lot of energy in the air. and so as a kid, you kind of just kind of ride that energy. but all of the waiting just felt like an eternity. -here we go.

-what is this going to do to the space program, the second shuttle craft lost? -it was my worst nightmare. ♪ painful. ♪ such a searing memory of challenger and how much it had defined nasa.