I was living with my ex in a house that is no longer there on the morning of Feb. 1, 2003. Beverly woke me up that morning telling me the space shuttle had exploded.
I didn’t know what she really meant. I had briefly heard about the Columbia mission a week or so earlier. What was so creepy was that it was a few days away from the date of Jan. 28 when the Challenger exploded in 1986. But this time, it was on re-entry when everything is supposed to be easier.
We had to get out and go to some function later that day but very little news was coming in until later when we found out what happened.
It was later determined that a piece of insulating foam broke off from Space Shuttle external tank and struck the thermal protection system tiles on the orbiter’s left wing.
When Columbia reentered Earth’s atmosphere, the damage allowed hot atmospheric gases to penetrate the heat shield and destroy the internal wing structure, which caused the orbiter to become unstable and break apart.
I saw the video of that as well as the Columbia shuttle or what remained of it exploding through the skies over Louisiana and Texas.
It was less than a year and a half after 9/11.
Please remember those seven who lost their lives:
Rick Husband, commander
William C. McCool, pilot
Michael P. Anderson, mission specialist
Kalpana Chawla, mission specialist
David M. Brown, mission specialist
Laurel Clark, mission specialist
Ilan Ramon, payload specialist
The Columbia disaster was featured in the movie A Million Miles Away. Chawla, played by Sarayu Blue, has a crucial role in the whole movie.
Zane Says 