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

cockpit window frame retrieval, 160–161

communication problems, search crews, 143

dealing with livestock, 176

early experiences in searches, 112–115

emotional aftershock, 240–242

friendship with Native American searcher, 193–194

goes to Lufkin to work with King, 140

nose landing gear, 185

security forces, 18–19

sensor readings failure, 41–42

Shelby Saving Bank, 121, 128

Shuttle Interagency Debris Database, 149

Shuttle Landing Facility, 15–17, 20, 37–38, 57, 140, 239, 278

Shuttle Program. See Space Shuttle Program

Shuttle Training Aircraft, 13, 39

shuttle/orbiter

description of, 8–9

heat shield composition, 25–33

landing incidents, 39

Sioux, 192

Sixteen Minutes from Home: A Tribute to the Crew of STS- 107 , 221

slag deposit analysis, 232

Smith, Albert, 281

Smith, Billy Ted, 67, 76, 98–99, 109, 119

Smith, Pat, 43–44, 121, 179

Smith, Patricia Huffman, 281

snakes, 177

Southeast Air Defense Sector, 77

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), 244–247

Southwest Texas Debriefing Team, 173

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

Michael D. Leinbachwas 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 Rescue 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.