The last week of January/beginning of February is a tough period of time for NASA with all three of its major accidents occurring between January 27th and February 1. While I always remember Apollo 1 on the 27th and Challenger on the 28th, my connections to Columbia are far stronger and therefore February 1st, the day that the Columbia shuttle failed to return to earth, is always a tough day for me and a day on which I remember the sacrifices made by the people who came before me in my desired career path.
On January 27th, 1967 the crew of Commander Gus Grissom, Senior Pilot Ed White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee climbed into their Apollo 1 command module for some pre-flight testing. This test was seen as routine and safe, due to the fact that the Saturn rocket was unfueled. However, once inside and strapped in, the crew members were reclining in their horizontal couches, running through a checklist when a voltage transient was recorded and ten seconds later sounds of scuffling and shouts of "fire" were heard from all three crew members. They struggled to get out and only 17 seconds after the first indication by crew of any fire, the transmission ended abruptly with a scream as the cabin ruptured after rapidly expanding gases from the fire overpressurized the command module.
The ground crew was unable to reach the module because of intense heat, dense toxic smoke, malfunctioning gas masks and shock waves and explosions from the cabin. There were further fears the fire might ignite the solid fuel rockets in the launch escape tower above the command module, likely killing nearby ground personnel. It took five minutes to open the inner and outer hatches, a set of three with many ratchets. By this time the fire in the command module had gone out. Although the cabin lights remained lit the ground crew was at first unable to find the astronauts. As the smoke cleared they found the bodies but were not able to remove them. The fire had partly melted the astronauts' nylon space suits and the hoses connecting them to the life support system. Grissom's body was found lying mostly on the deck. His and White's suits were fused together. The body of Ed White (whom mission protocol had tasked with opening the hatch) was lying back in his center couch. White would not have been able to open the inward-opening hatch against the internal pressure. Chaffee's job was to shut down the spacecraft systems and maintain communications with ground control. His body was still strapped into the right-hand seat. It was determined that the astronauts died not of the burns they received from the fire but from asphyxiation as the command module filled with smoke.
The Apollo 1 fire shook NASA and the American public to its core. This was at the height of the Space Race and America was still trying to catch up to the Soviets. Despite the tragedy, the Apollo program continued with a slightly altered mission schedule and a redesign of the Command Module.
This was the United State's first exposure to loss of life in the very public space program (compared to the secretive nature of the Soviet program). However, the dedication of NASA and the determination of the astronaut corps to continue kept the American space program from disintegrating in the aftermath. Perhaps the best description of this single-minded purpose was made by Gus Grissom himself when he said in an Apollo press conference "If we die, we want people to accept it. We're in a risky business and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The exploration of space is worth the risk of life."
The American space program did continue and after sending 6 manned crews to the surface of the moon NASA changed its focus to research in space as opposed to manned space exploration. The Space Shuttle was created as a means to transport to and from space stations and was designed to fly 100 missions and operate for 10 years. The shuttle program had a successful beginning but this early success led to complacency and carelessness in the NASA administration, a carelessness that led to the second tragedy, the Challenger explosion of January 28th 1986.
While Space Shuttle launches were seen as fairly routine (having already successfully completed 24 launches) this specific mission received a lot of attention from the public due to the presence of the first "civilian" on-board. In 1984 Ronald Reagen announced the Teacher in Space program and kicked off a competition for schoolteachers to apply to become astronauts. This was meant to inspire children to get interested in science and engineering and hoped to gain publicity for the space program. New Hampshire schoolteacher Christa McAullife was chosen and trained alongside the STS-51 L crew.
On the morning of the launch the temperatures at the launchpad were as low as 8 deg F (-13 deg C). Engineers at Morton Thiokol, the company that constructed a crucial component of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters (the white boosters on the sides of the orange tank) had expressed concerns that their component (called an O-ring) would fail at low temperatures. However, these concerns were ignored and silenced by Morton Thiokol leadership and NASA administrators and Challenger was cleared to launch despite the low temperatures and possible O-ring failure.
Because of the presence of McAuliffe, this launch was televised and watched in thousands of classrooms across the country (48% of 9-13 year old children the US watched the launch on tv).
A mere 37 seconds into the launch, the O-ring did indeed fail, causing a plume of flame and gas to leak from the right solid rocket booster. This caused the shuttle to veer significantly off-course and resulted in a total breakup of the shuttle. 73 seconds into flight the shuttle completely fell apart (didn't actually explode, just disintegrated due to the high aerodynamic pressure), killing all 7 astronauts and sending debris flying into the Atlantic ocean. The entire sequence of the launch and shuttle breakup was shown live on television.
President Ronald Reagan was scheduled to give the State of the Union address that night however that speech was canceled and, instead, he gave what is widely considered one of the greatest speeches of his presidency. Full text of the speech here:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.
Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together.
For the families of the seven: we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers.
And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them.
I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: "Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it."
There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, "He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it." Well today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete.
The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and "slipped the surly bonds of earth" to "touch the face of God.""
The Challenger accident halted the shuttle program for almost 3 years. During that time a Commission was created to determine the causes of the accident and make recommendations to NASA. The Roger's Commission found it to be not an engineering failure but a failure of ethics, siting the leadership both at Morton Thiokol and at NASA for ignoring the warnings of the engineers. New protocol was created in an attempt to prevent a similar event from occurring again.
As I mentioned earlier, while I do feel a connection the the Apollo 1 and Challenger crews and feel the pain of their loss, I have a special connection to the Columbia STS-107 crew that was lost in February of 2003. Both my father and my uncle were close friends with Ilan Ramon, the Israeli astronaut on-board the shuttle. My dad and Ilan went through pilot training together and Ilan was at my parent's wedding.
My dad's flight school course. My dad is 3rd from the left in the 2nd seated row, Ilan is on his left.My uncle and Ilan were a part of the first Israeli squadron of F-16s and flew the mission to bomb the Iraqi nuclear reaction in 1981.
My uncle Amos (l) and Ilan (r) in Salt Lake City for F-16 flight training.When it was announced that an Israeli would be included on a shuttle launch, Ilan was selected and he and his family moved to Houston. Delays in the shuttle program and the fact that the Columbia shuttle isn't outfitted to dock with the International Space Station meant that the Ramon family's stay in Texas was several years longer than originally planned but they were allowed to stay and finally, years after they were originally scheduled to fly, STS-107 was cleared for launch on January 16th 2003. My dad was invited to the launch and, because of my interest in (or you could say obsession with) the space program, my dad accepted the invitation and took me along to the launch. It was a great few days spend with just me and my dad and I was really excited to see the Kennedy Space Center and the museums and exhibits down at the Cape. We went to a reception held by Rona (Ilan's wife) the night before the launch and I got to meet lots of Abba's Air Force friends. The morning of the launch we were driven to the Banana Creek viewing site, the VIP viewing area. The Banana Creek is the closest you can be to the launchpad without being inside.
We waited anxiously for the launch which, thankfully, went forward without delay and seemingly without incident. The space shuttle launch was, without a doubt, the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed in my life. One thing that struck me at the time, and will stay with me forever, was the three part way in which I experienced the launch. While we were closest you can be to the pad, we were still just over 3 km away and the distance and the difference between the speed of light and sound was significant. So when the clock reached zero we looked across and saw the shuttle lift off the pad. Several seconds later, after the shuttle had already cleared the launch tower, we heard the sound of the engine ignition and the roar of the engines. Finally, a few seconds later, we "felt" the shuttle launch. It was absolutely incredible!! We got some amazing photos (the one below being my favorite) and my dad got the launch on video as well. Such an amazing experience and one that I will never forget.
Sadly the excitement of the experience was cut short on February 1st when I woke up and saw the TV images of the shuttle breaking up in the skies over Texas. Due to (again) cold temperatures on launch morning, a section of the external tank (big orange tank) had broken off upon launch and had fallen into the ceramic tiles that protect the underside of the shuttle from the heat of re-entry. The hot plasma and gas from the earth's atmosphere had gotten inside the shuttle and caused it to break apart, again taking the lives of the crew members onboard. I was absolutely devastated and shocked and the loss of the crew hit me really hard; I couldn't believe it was happening. My family and friends were amazing in getting me through it but the lives, and loss, of the Space Shuttle Columbia STS-107 crew cemented my desire to be an astronaut and have provided me with inspiration throughout the last 8 years of my life. I even have STS-107 engraved on the inside of my Academy class ring for inspiration.
President Bush also gave a speech in response to the tragedy. While I have some strong opinions about President Bush, I will say that I loved his speech and will always hold him in high regard for this particular address.
"My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. At nine o'clock this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors.
On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt Col Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force. These men and women assumed great risk in the service to all humanity.
In an age when space flight has come to seem almost routine, it is easy to overlook the dangers of travel by rocket, and the difficulties of navigating the fierce outer atmosphere of the Earth. These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage, and daring, and idealism, we will miss them all the more.
All Americans today are thinking, as well, of the families of these men and women who have been given this sudden shock and grief. You're not alone. Our entire nation grieves with you. And those you loved will always have the respect and gratitude of this country. The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand.
Our journey into space will go on.
In the skies today we saw destruction and tragedy. Yet farther than we can see, there is comfort and hope. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of His great power, and mighty strength, not one of them is missing."
The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth; yet we can pray that all are safely home.
May God bless the grieving families. And may -- may God continue to bless America."
Much talk has been had recently about the value of the space program and the amount of resources that the United States should allocate to NASA and the space program. While I acknowledge that I am biased in this area, I do strongly believe in the benefit of space exploration and manned space flight. I won't go massively into it here because its far too long to be included in this already super long blog post, but I'll just mention a few things. The biggest benefits of space flight have been in areas that we didn't even anticipate would arise from spaceflight. The technologies that have been developed (from semi-conductors to water purification systems to scratch resistant lenses to environmental monitoring systems to breast cancer detection systems to magnetic liquids to velcro) for use in spaceflight that have benefited mankind on earth are numerous and the potential for further innovation in space is limitless. We must continue to explore space and send humans to escape the bounds of our world and into others.
Again, leaving it up to other people to say what I feel about the issue of spaceflight and space exploration, Michael Collins (the 3rd member of Apollo 11 that everyone forgets about) said "
It's human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice, really; it's an imperative." God bless the memories of the brave men and women who gave their lives in an attempt to go higher and farther than man has gone before and to bring the rest of us along with them.
Apollo 1- 27 January 1967
Virgil "Gus" Grissom
Edward While
Roger Chaffee
STS-51-L Challenger- 28 January 1986
Francis "Dick" Scobee
Michael Smith
Ellison Onizuka
Judith Resnik
Ronald McNair
Gregory Jarvis
Sharon Christa McAullife
STS-107 Columbia- 1 February 2003
Rick Husband
Willie McCool
Michael Anderson
Dave Brown
Kalpana "KC" Chawla
Laurel Clark
Ilan Ramon
