Remembering the Columbia
On Feb. 1, 2003 — 15 years ago today — the space shuttle Columbia was returning to Earth.
In 1981, it had become the first shuttle to travel to space. This time around, on its 28th mission in 22 years, it carried a crew of seven. They had spent 16 days conducting experiments in space.
As the Colombia re-entered the atmosphere, gases began to leak into a hole in one of the wings. The shuttle disintegrated. All seven astronauts aboard — Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark, Rick Husband, William McCool and Ilan Ramon — died. Debris was strewn all over east Texas and Louisiana. The tragedy led NASA to retire the shuttle program.
The entire nation mourned, but Houston was particularly stunned. On Facebook, we asked people to remember where they were when they heard the news. — Allyn West
LOIS RODRIGUEZ:
I had already moved to Austin, but I’m from the Houston area and the shuttle program has been a part of my life since I was in elementary school (in Pasadena) when we could see the shuttle piggy-back in overhead from the schoolyard on its way to Ellington. Then once (around ’94), I saw the fireball of the shuttle re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere around 1 a.m. So, I loved to “tune” in when possible. With that, I had set my alarm to watch Columbia pass by when it was expected to be visible.
It was 7:30-ish, and I made my way to my hilltop Austin balcony, where I waited until it came into view. It’s always so fascinating to me.
I followed it as it moved across the horizon. There was nothing that looked out of the ordinary, but I locked my eyes on it until its view was blocked by trees. I waited to see it come across the other side of the trees, but didn’t. I just figured it moved from view, and that was the end of the show for me.
I dragged my sleepy self back into bed, but turned the TV on. I started to fall asleep again when I heard someone say they haven’t had contact with the shuttle for about 15 minutes. The tone was of grave concern. I was confused. I just saw it. That didn’t make sense.
As I tuned in more, the details started to unfold, and I realized that I had been watching a shuttle already in crisis.
It broke my heart.
JAMES MEDFORD:
I was in the Russian mission control center outside Moscow, working as part of the NASA liaison group there for the International Space Station. I had to break the news to the Russian flight controllers working that day.
ALISON DE LIMA GREENE:
I was at the Museum of Fine Arts, in my downstairs office at the end of a corridor. Back then I kept a radio there and my colleague Karen Vetter asked me if I could turn it on to hear the reports since a friend had just telephoned her with the news — soon my office was standing room only as we all took what had happened.
MARTIN HAJOVSKY:
It was a Saturday morning, and I was about to bring my two boys to a soccer practice. My wife’s aunt called to say what was going on and used the word “exploded.” I knew that Columbia would not have “exploded” as it was set to return to Earth that morning, and there was nothing explosive on board. So I started to wonder about it breaking up on re-entry, which was also unlikely. So I turned on the TV and saw what we all saw, those awful, sickening debris trails over northern Texas and Louisiana.
I had a few thoughts at that point: First, how awful it must have been for the crew, who knew what would happen as it was happening. Second, how awful it was for this to happen in a mission with the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who had brought with him an irreplaceable copy of the Torah that had made it through the Holocaust. Third, how awful it was for this to happen to Columbia, the first orbiter. I immediately thought back to seeing Columbia with my dad on the tarmac at Ellington back in 1979. Then fourth, my thoughts turned to to all of those working the mission at Johnson Space Center and those waiting at Kennedy for the orbiter’s return, scanning the skies to the west for a sight that would never come.
It was then I started crying.
ANAT RONEN:
I was in my then-boyfriend’s tiny apartment in a kibbutz in Israel. My son was 7 years old, and I turned on the TV to show him the historical moment, as for the first (and only) time, an Israeli astronaut was included. It was afternoon on the other side of the world. I knew something went awfully wrong after a few seconds, and then we couldn’t stop crying for days.
LINDA LAIT BURGER:
We were living abroad in France at the time. We felt more isolated then because we could only watch our community grieve and mourn from afar. We had been so excited about Ilan Ramon being on the shuttle, and we felt connected to him through our Houston Jewish community. When he died, we felt like we too lost a family member.
BARBARA GURWITZ RAYNOR:
I was at home thinking about the “welcome home” gathering the Jewish Federation of Greater Houston was planning for the Columbia crew and, in particular, Ramon. Right after hearing the news, we immediately shifted into emergency response mode and ended up planning a memorial event for the crew instead.
The memorial, held at Congregation Beth Yeshurun, attracted about 1,500 people from across the community, as well as media representatives from around the world. The most poignant moment for me was greeting Ramon’s father and listening as he graciously answered the reporters’ questions, even in the midst of his grief.