Michael Leinbach - Bringing Columbia Home - The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew

in East Texas Mutual Aid Association, 67

stores provide needed supplies, 97, 122, 128

support of water search, 142, 181

Jett, Brent, 103–104, 107, 123, 132, 152–153, 285

Johnson, Greg “Ray J,” 61, 70–71

Johnson Space Center (JSC). See also crew; debris retrieval

accident plus 1 hour, 61

debris reconstruction, 139–140

debris retrieval, xi

developing heatshield inspection techniques, 272–273

encourages staff volunteers, 124

landing day, 36–37

memorial services for Columbia , 115–116

requests for Columbia material for study, 257

Space Shuttle Program, ix, 11

Joshua 1:9, 75, 288

Kelly, Jim, 200, 291

Kelly, Mark

accident plus 1 hour, 60–61

arrives in Hemphill, 73

assesses situation in Nacogdoches, 70–71

at crew remains recoveries, 73–74, 97–99

returns home, 110

Kelly, Scott, 97, 180

Kennedy Space Center (KSC). See also Space Shuttle Program

aerial photo, 13

as site for debris reconstruction, 139–142

Columbia lost on reentry, 3–6

crew equipment interface test, 14

employees visit reconstruction hangar, 248–249

implementation of CAIB recommendations, 272–273

insists foam impact caused damage, 30–31

Landing Day, 3–6, 38–40

memorial service, Feb. 7, 155

new hires encouraged to visit Columbia room in VAB, 260–263

representatives in searches, 175

staff initial reactions to Columbia breakup, 53–54

TCDT week, 16–17

King, David

appointed to lead accident teams, 56–57

concerns about danger to volunteers, 167–168

conference call with response teams, 88–90

confidence in shuttle reliability shaken, 271

considers Forest Service taking over debris retrieval, 169–171

lands in Lufkin, 79

at Marshall Space Flight Center, 72

meets with Wetherbee to discuss roles, 81–82

put in charge by White House, 92

on support by Hemphill residents, 135

takes team to dinner after last crew recovery, 132–133

Whittle reporting to, 77–78

Kovacs, Greg, 215

Kreidel, Sam, 212

Krenek, Charles, 195–198

Krenek, Charlotte, 197

KSC engineers join reconstruction effort, 210–212

KSC Visitor Complex, 18, 261, 279, 282, 338

KSC Web Studio, 221

landing countdown clock, 4

Landing Day

astronauts’ preparations to land, 36

becomes Recovery Day, 51

Columbia becomes catastrophic event, 44–45

explosions, shaking ground, in TX, 43–44

landing and recovery team, at KSC, 3–6, 36–40, 42, 45–47

landing and recovery team, standby at Edwards, 40–41

loss of communication, 41–43

Mission Control informed of Columbia breakup, 45–46

projected reentry, 38

landowners, concerns with searchers, 175–176

Lane, Terry

accompanies spouses, 201

crew remains found, 73–74

invited to Discovery launch, 274

escorts Cohrs to Lufkin, 124–125

goes to Hemphill, 68

investigate report of crew remains, 97–99

on Joshua 1:9, 288

NASA appreciation of, 132

Orbiter Experiment system (OEX) recorder, 188–190

startled from sleep by noise, 43

toll on, 129–130

Lange, Richard, 196

Langley Research Center, 273

Launch Control Center (LCC)

accident plus 30 minutes, 55–57

accident plus 90 minutes, 65

de-orbit burn, 37

investigation initiated, 63

launch day, 19–24

TCDT week, 16

launch team, 7, 16, 19, 21–23, 251, 278

Leath, Jack, 67, 76, 203–204

Lehigh University, 257

Leinbach, Charlotte, 47, 67, 249

lessons learned, 283–288

“Lift-the-Dot” fastener, 118

Littlefield Tile, 185–186

lockdown of data, 46–47

Longview, 173

Lovell, James, 220–221

Lufkin

airport, 72, 100–101, 180

Bank of America building, as incident command center, 172

Downtown Hoedown Parade, 194

establishing operations at Civic Center, 69, 72, 79, 81–83, 91, 92, 99

FBI office, 52, 68–69

thank-you dinner, 203–204

Feb. 8 memorial service, Lufkin First Baptist Church, 126

memorial, Louis Bronaugh Park, 280

Lunde, Lauren, 46

Maddox, Tom

on conditions of searchers, 112

helicopter crash, 196

initial calls reporting accident, 44

problems with media, 98–99

sets up command station, 67–68

thank-you dinner, 203–204

Madura, John, 40

Magellan , xi

Mangiacapra, Amy, 254–256, 259–260, 286

Mango, Ed

arrives at Lufkin to review debris reports, 99–100

as assistant launch director, 34, 37, 42, 47

debris retrieval, 140–141

flies to tire sighting, notes debris en route, 101–103

funeral for helicopter crash victims, 198

on helicopter search operations safety, 195

lessons learned, 286

on pressure to return debris to hangar, 224

released to concentrate on fieldwork, 165

reports in on debris findings, 147

saying goodbye to the camps, 241–242

star tracker and pyrotechnic device finds, 152–153

thank-you dinner, Lufkin, 203–204

Marshall Space Flight Center, 56, 72, 139, 272

Martin, Glenn, 52, 68

McClure, Billy, 239

McCool, CDR William “Willie,” 10, 14, 20, 31, 39, 237, 258, 292

McCool, Lani, 201, 247

McCowan, Hivie, 95, 122

McGuirk, Col. Charles, 63, 86

McLellan, Marty, 14, 228

meal service for searchers, 111–112

Melroy, Pam

advocates for conducting survivability analysis, 257–259

“Cape Crusader,” 40

on crew module breakup, 225–226

debris recovered, as sign of hope, 234

manager of crew module reconstruction, 210–211, 219–220

meets with families to discuss use of debris for education, 254–256

thoughts on knowledge loss by ending program, 278–279

VAB as “ Columbia ’s Arlington”, 256

and yellow dinosaur, 222

memorial services for Columbia

Feb. 4, JSC, 115

Feb. 7, KSC, 155

Feb. 8, Barksdale, Carswell, Lufkin 126, 157

Feb, 14, Hemphill, 132–133

Michoud Assembly Facility, 276

Micklos, Ann

dating Dave Brown, 11

emotional catharsis at Manatees game, 244

on emotional response of reconstruction team, 219

film analysis of foam strike, 26, 29, 34

landing day, 53–54

as part of reconstruction crew, 211–212

watch flown on STS-107, 11, 237–239

Mier, Jules “Buzz,” 195–198

Mills, Ellen, 281

Millslagle, Jeff, 51–52, 64–69, 79, 81

Mishap Investigation Team (MIT)

activated, 62

assembled at JSC, 78

assessment of debris retrieval, 139–141

deploys to Barksdale, 81, 83

importance of volunteers, 192

RRT reporting to, 78

Mishap Response Team, KSC, 90

Mission Control

informs Columbia’s crew of foam strike, 31–32

Landing Day, 37

loss of telemetry, 190

receives information about Columbia breaking up, 46–47

stopped receiving telemetry from Columbia , 42

Mission Management Team (MMT), 19, 27–31, 65, 77, 80, 243, 273

Mitchell, Tim “Peewee,” 142–144

Monafo, Paul, 139

Mott, Cecil Paul, 68, 287

Moynihan, Linda, 66, 152, 240

Muldowney, Betty, 141

Museum, Patricia Huffman Smith “Remembering Columbia,” Hemphill, 281–282

mysterious object, observed by military, 33, 151, 159

Nacogdoches

airport, collection center, 70, 105, 116, 153, 201, 203

debris path, 61, 86, 100, 101, 163, 232