Sts 112 News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

from space shuttle columbia as columbia continues to orbit the earth at an altitude of about 150 statute miles. columbia, houston, laurel, you're loud and clear on air to ground one. -the second day, i drive in to work kind of euphoric because another launch, another successful launch. you know, the flight director's office and the mission control center in houston is working with them. they're -- everything's good. i walked into the analysis lab to start reviewing film from the launch. we started the film at the beginning. [ rockets roaring ] we're watching this liftoff. you see the...

-[ indistinct ] -main engine start. two...one... we got booster ignition and liftoff of the space shuttle atlantis. -sts-112 had a very similar piece of foam come off from almost the same location, but in that case, the foam hit solid rocket booster and put a dent in it. -the foam traveled -- traveled down. it struck right here, these three lines. -it didn't hit the orbiter, so it was no effect to the flight. the management team, they analyzed it and came up with the conclusion that no safety of flight issue existed. -we dodged a bullet on that one. here's your warning, and you only get one. â...

The chairman of the meeting was linda ham. -she basically ran this mission. -if there were going to be any changes, she headed up this team that would have to approve any changes. -she was effectively the deputy to ron dittemore, the program manager in those days. linda has excellent judgment, can grasp complicated problems very quickly. she was the first woman to be certified as a flight director. linda was recalling sts-112, a flight two flights before.