Sowell, Jamie, 113–114, 119, 126–127, 178–179, 286
Soyuz spacecraft, 264, 269, 273
Space Flight Awareness program, NASA, 193–194, 203–204
Space Shuttle Program. See also Atlantis; Challenger; Columbia; Agency Contingency Action Plan for Space Flight Operations; Discovery; Endeavour; International Space Station (ISS)
end of, 278–279
need to terminate, 271–272
Space Shuttle Program Office, 257–258
Space Surveillance Network (SSN), 33
“Space Transportation System,” 8
Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility, 254
Spacecraft Crew Survival Integrated Investigation Team, 257–259
Spacehab, 9, 14, 25, 33, 154, 176, 186, 209, 227–229
spouses fly to TX to thank searchers, 200–201
SSOR (space-to-space orbiter radio), 149
staff visits to hangar, 248–250
Stafford, Thomas, 272
Stafford-Covey Task Force, 272
Stanford, Mark, 69, 82–83, 91, 168–169
Starfire Optical Range, Kirtland AFB, 158
Starr, Bryon, 43
Starr, John “Squeaky,” 43, 74
Stepaniak, Dr. Philip, 78, 117
Stephen F. Austin State University, 123
Stilson, Stephanie, 185, 193, 285
STS-1, Columbia, 30
STS-27, Atlantis, 29, 34
STS-107. See Columbia
STS-112, Atlantis, 15, 29, 40
STS-113, Endeavour, 15
STS-114, Discovery, 199–200, 273–276
STS-121, Discovery, 257, 277
STS-134, Endeavour, 277
STS-135, Atlantis, 278–279
STS-400, Endeavour, unflown contingency rescue mission, 270
stump holes, 178–179
TAL landing, 66
tank jettison pictures, 25
TCDT week, 15–17
terminal count demonstration test (TCDT), 15
terrorist suspicions, 70, 85, 227
Texas A&M University, 250, 281
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, 101, 118, 145
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), 59, 64, 69–70, 82, 118, 149
Texas Forest Service. See also Stanford, Mark
blow of deaths in helicopter crash, 197
proposals to run debris search, 169
search personnel, 118
sets up MIT camps in Hemphill Camp, 173–174
tasked as lead state agency, 91–92
thanked by spouses, 201
thank-you dinner, Lufkin, 203–204
“Their mission became our mission,” 128, 197–198, 281
Thomas, Andy, 37, 61, 275, 292
Thurston, Scott, 66, 253–254, 257, 287
tile composition, 26–27
“tile table,” reconstruction hangar, 230
tire, found near Chireno, TX, 100–102
Toledo Bend Reservoir, 43–44, 114, 127, 131, 142, 163, 170, 178, 181–183, 201–202
Travassos, Frank, 164
Tribe, John, 212
“Truck Day,” 216–217
Tschacher, Matt, 196
Tyson Foods, 122
“T-zero,” 18
Ulysses, xi
United Space Alliance (USA), 12, 175, 196, 210, 254–256, 272
US Attorneys Office, 68, 69, 150
US Coast Guard, 104
US Coast Guard dive team, 146
US Environmental Agency, 92
US Fish and Wildlife Service, 130
US Forest Service. See also Cohrs, Greg; Cooper, Marsha; Holmes, Felix; Rounsaville, Marc
blow of deaths in helicopter crash, 197
counseling for searchers, 241
gears up for two-month recovery effort, 172
helicopters, 180–181
leads search teams, 124
nose cap found, 146
proposals to run debris search, 169
resumes helicopter searches, 95
search personnel preparedness, 113
search plan, 174–179
search teams, 76, 93, 113
takes over debris search, 167–172
Tschacher, helicopter crash, 196
US Navy, 181–183, 201–202
USS Cole, 64
Vandenberg Air Force Base, ix–x
Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), 14–15, 20, 254–256
Verizon, emergency cell phone towers, 109
VFW Ladies’ Auxiliary, 77
VFW Post, Hemphill
becomes rally point for volunteers, 90–93
Choctaw victory dance held, 202
meal service for searchers, 77, 111–114, 120–122, 134
memorial services for Columbia, 133
site of briefings, 87, 107, 126, 130
as staging area, 77
Videotape cassette found, crew re-entry,154
“Vision for Space Exploration,” 272
Vomit Comet, 81
Walker, Charles “Boo,” 287
weather briefings, 18–19
weather extremes, 179
Wells, Scott. See also Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
arrives at Barksdale, 83
considers US Forest Service taking over debris retrieval, 169
as FEMA onsite commander, 69–70
lessons learned, 284
thanks volunteer agencies, 160
thank-you dinner, 203–204
Wetherbee, James
assignment for crew remains, 95–96
Collins asks if her crew can join search, 199–200
conference call with response teams, 88–90
consults Bagian on crew recovery, 116–117
meets with Millslagle and King in Lufkin, 81–82
problems with finding remains, 103–104
redirected to shuttle debris, 78
refining the search parameters, 122–123
search toll on personnel, 110–111
white dog, 108, 322
White Room, 20–21
Whittington, Sunny, 43, 121
Whittle, David
appreciation for Native American fire fighters, 192–193
arranges transport of Mishap Investigation Team, 81
arrives at Barksdale, 83–84
in charge of recovering physical debris, 65
considers Forest Service taking over debris retrieval, 169
funeral for helicopter crash victims, 198
meets with response teams to assess priorities, 88–90
Orbiter Experiment system (OEX) recorder, 188–189
report on search-and-recovery operations, 104–105
RRT reporting to, 77–78
reviews Apache helicopter video of disintegration, 158–159
team assembled at JSC, 78
“widow makers” trees, 177
Williams, Jeffrey, 163, 243
Willoughby, Jeremy, 179, 187–190, 286
Woodworth, Warren “Woody,” 210
work process, reconstruction, 216–218
World Trade Center attacks, 169
Wyle Laboratories, 78
Yellow Dinosaur Club, 222
Young, John, ix
Zalomski, Ed, 201
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Michael D. Leinbach was the final Shuttle Launch Director at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida. He was responsible for overall Shuttle launch countdown policy, planning, and execution activities.
Leinbach joined NASA in 1984 as a structural engineer in the Design Engineering Directorate. He served as a lead design engineer for a variety of launchpad systems including the Orbiter Weather Protection and Emergency Egress Slidewire systems. In 1988, he became a NASA Test Director (NTD) in the Shuttle Management and Operations Directorate (later, the Shuttle Processing Directorate). As an NTD, he was responsible for directing all daily operations at Launch Complex 39. Concurrently, he was chairman of the Emergency Egress and Rescu
e Working Group. In 1991, he was named Shuttle Test Director, conducting the terminal countdown and launch of seventeen Shuttle missions and was responsible for all prelaunch planning activities involving the Shuttle launch countdown.
From January 1998 to May 2000, Leinbach served as the deputy director of the Space Station Hardware Integration Office, where he was responsible for all International Space Station (ISS) component processing at KSC and contractor manufacturing locations. Leinbach also oversaw the development and execution of the Multi-Element Integrated Test Program, which verified the functionality and operability of the first phase of the ISS program in a configuration, on the ground, as close to the on-orbit final assembly as possible.
Leinbach was tapped to serve as Assistant Launch Director in May 2000 and was named Launch Director in August 2000. He led the Launch Team for all Shuttle missions from then to the end of the program in 2011, serving as the person to give the final “Go” for launch. He also served as the senior operations expert for NASA for all Shuttle flight elements and ground support equipment processing issues.
Immediately following the Columbia accident in February 2003, Leinbach led the initial debris recovery effort in Texas and Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, he was named to lead the Columbia reconstruction team chartered to determine the cause of the accident based solely on the debris collected and reassembled at KSC. He was also the driving force behind the Columbia preservation team and development of the plan to lend debris to academia for study, with the goal of developing better and safer spacecraft in the future.
In November 2004, Leinbach was awarded the prestigious 2004 Presidential Rank Award. He has received numerous group achievement and performance awards, including NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal in 1993 for his leadership in planning and conducting Shuttle launch countdowns and NASA’s Medal for Outstanding Leadership in May 2003 for significant contributions to the Space Shuttle Program.
Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he graduated in 1971 from Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia. He received a BS in Architecture in 1976 and a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering with emphasis in structural dynamics in 1981 from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.
Leinbach remains active in public outreach and education at Kennedy Space Center. He leads the monthly “Launch Director Tour” from the KSC Visitors Center complex, in which he explains the risks and rewards of human spaceflight and takes his groups to some of the key facilities at KSC. Leinbach also mentors new and mid-career employees through various leadership and educational forums.
Leinbach retired from NASA in 2011. He and his wife Charlotte reside in Scottsmoor, Florida.
Jonathan H. Ward spent several years of his childhood in Japan and considers the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, to be his hometown. Although he has a wide variety of interests and has worked in many fields, space exploration is his lifelong passion. His joy of bringing the space program to life for the general public began in high school, when he served as a volunteer tour guide at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum during the Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 missions. He continues his public outreach today, as a Solar System Ambassador for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as a frequent speaker on space exploration topics to interest groups and at regional conferences, and as an author of books on space history. He is also a regular contributor to online space exploration forums.
Ward brings a unique perspective to his writing that marries a systems view of the topic, fascination with the technology, passion for space exploration, and deep respect for the people who make it all happen.
After studying physics at Carnegie-Mellon University, he transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University, from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1978 with a BS in Psychology. He received a Master of Science in Systems Management degree from the University of Denver in 1992.
Ward is professionally certified as an executive coach by the International Coach Federation and serves on the adjunct staff at the Center for Creative Leadership. His professional experience includes extensive work as an organizational development and leadership consultant, both as an employee of some of America’s largest companies and as an external consultant. He worked for several years with Boeing on the Space Station Freedom program. His varied other roles have included strategic systems planning at Freddie Mac and leading Capital One’s global effectiveness functions.
Ward’s book Rocket Ranch was the bestselling engineering title for technical publisher Springer Books in 2015—quite an accomplishment for a non-engineer author. His books on the Apollo/Saturn program at Kennedy Space Center have been praised as “the perfect balance between presenting the technical aspects of launch preparations and the personal side of what it must have been like to be a part of the Apollo workforce during this incredible time in the history of manned space flight. The overall flow of these two books really makes the reader feel like they have gone back in time and were given their own personal VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center.”
Roger Launius of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum said, “Jonathan Ward’s Rocket Ranch is an enjoyable overview of the Kennedy Space Center during the 1960s … For those who are interested in Apollo era technology infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center, this is the book for you.”
Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly said, “Countdown to a Moon Launch … merits a space on the bookshelf of any Apollo aficionado. Let’s hope that Ward finds time to write more such books.”
Ward and his wife Jane now reside in Greensboro, North Carolina.
STS-107 pilot Willie McCool in Columbia’s cockpit during the crew equipment interface test, June 2002. Note the individually numbered black and white silica heat shield tiles. (NASA photo)
Test project engineer Mike Ciannilli with Columbia as it was being rolled from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building. Ciannilli would later search for the ship’s debris in Texas and eventually run the Columbia Preservation Office. (Photo courtesy Mike Ciannilli)
An observer in Firing Room 4 of the Launch Control Center watches Columbia roll out to the launch pad on December 9, 2002. (NASA photo)
The STS-107 crew poses with Robert Hanley (kneeling) at the completion of the terminal countdown demonstration test, December 2002. Crew (left to right): Mike Anderson, Rick Husband, Laurel Clark, Willie McCool, Ilan Ramon, Kalpana Chawla, Dave Brown. (Photo courtesy Robert Hanley)
The STS-107 crew leaves the Operations and Checkout Building en route to the launch pad, January 16, 2003. (Scott Andrews/NASA photo)
“Kid pic” drawn by the children of Columbia’s crew in the Launch Control Center in the hours prior to liftoff. (Jonathan Ward photo)
Ascent film frames of Columbia just before and after the impact with the chunk of insulating foam that fell from its external tank. (NASA photo)
The space shuttle’s main design weakness was that the orbiter was susceptible to impacts from debris falling off the external tank or the solid rocket boosters. With STS-107, a piece of foam fell off the external tank’s bipod ramp and struck the orbiter’s left wing during ascent to orbit. (NASA photo)
The status board at Mission Control at 9:15 a.m. EST, when Columbia should have been lining up for landing at Kennedy. The highlighted numbers are “stale data”—information not updated since last contact with the ship at 9:00 a.m. EST. Flight controllers were unaware that Columbia had already disintegrated. (NASA photo)
The Etoile Volunteer Fire Department investigates a piece of debris along State Route 103 the morning of the accident. (Jan Amen photo)
Volunteers traverse the bayous of East Texas looking for remains of Columbia’s crew. (Tom Iraci/US Forest Service)
The truck bays of Hemphill’s Volunteer Fire Department became the area’s Incident Command Post. (Jan Amen photo)
A cake decorated with the names of Columbia’s crew, donated by an anonymous Sabine County volunteer. (Jan Amen photo)
Troopers from the
Texas Department of Public Safety grab an early dinner at the Hemphill VFW. (Jan Amen photo)
The Ladies Auxiliary meeting room at the Hemphill VFW was pressed into service to store some of the food and goods donated by the local community. (Jan Amen photo)
The recently completed memorial star in the center of Hemphill became a place for local residents to leave tokens of sympathy for the crew and NASA after the accident. (Jan Amen photo)
Annotated frame from a gunsight camera video of Columbia’s breakup, taken by the pilot of an Apache helicopter out of Fort Hood, Texas. The detailed information recorded by this camera system was vital to the investigation of the accident. (NASA photo)
Debris at Barksdale Air Force Base awaits transport to Kennedy Space Center. Several of Columbia’s propellant tanks are at right rear. Pieces of the airlock and Spacehab tunnel structure are at lower right. At center is part of the right landing gear door. This photo was taken on February 8, 2003—one week after the accident. (NASA photo)
Map of some of the key recoveries in San Augustine and Sabine Counties. The black dots indicate debris found and tagged within the first two weeks following the accident. (Jeff Williams/Stephen F. Austin State University)
About 95 percent of Columbia’s debris came down within an area about five miles on either side of the base search vector—the path followed by the main engines after the vehicle broke up. (Jeff Williams/Stephen F. Austin State University)
One of the “tent cities” for fire crews, this one in a warehouse that served as the Incident Command Center in Palestine, Texas. (Jan Amen photo)
A fire crew grid searches an open field on a sunny day in East Texas. Between mid-February and late April, hundreds of teams like this one were deployed every day. (Tom Iraci/US Forest Service)
The boot-drying tent at the Nacogdoches command post. FEMA provided a second pair of boots to every searcher at no cost, enabling fire crew members to wear dry footgear every day. (Tom Iraci/US Forest Service)
This cartoon, drawn by a Navajo firefighter from Arizona, depicts the hazards and rewards of searching for Columbia debris. (Courtesy Patricia Huffman Smith “Remembering Columbia” Museum)
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