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

From January 1998 to May 2000, Leinbach served as the deputy director of the Space Station Hardware Integration Office, where he was responsible for all International Space Station (ISS) component processing at KSC and contractor manufacturing locations. Leinbach also oversaw the development and execution of the Multi-Element Integrated Test Program, which verified the functionality and operability of the first phase of the ISS program in a configuration, on the ground, as close to the on-orbit final assembly as possible.

Leinbach was tapped to serve as Assistant Launch Director in May 2000 and was named Launch Director in August 2000. He led the Launch Team for all Shuttle missions from then to the end of the program in 2011, serving as the person to give the final “Go” for launch. He also served as the senior operations expert for NASA for all Shuttle flight elements and ground support equipment processing issues.

Immediately following the Columbia accident in February 2003, Leinbach led the initial debris recovery effort in Texas and Louisiana. Shortly thereafter, he was named to lead the Columbia reconstruction team chartered to determine the cause of the accident based solely on the debris collected and reassembled at KSC. He was also the driving force behind the Columbia preservation team and development of the plan to lend debris to academia for study, with the goal of developing better and safer spacecraft in the future.

In November 2004, Leinbach was awarded the prestigious 2004 Presidential Rank Award. He has received numerous group achievement and performance awards, including NASA’s Exceptional Service Medal in 1993 for his leadership in planning and conducting Shuttle launch countdowns and NASA’s Medal for Outstanding Leadership in May 2003 for significant contributions to the Space Shuttle Program.

Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, he graduated in 1971 from Yorktown High School in Arlington, Virginia. He received a BS in Architecture in 1976 and a Master of Engineering in Civil Engineering with emphasis in structural dynamics in 1981 from the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Leinbach remains active in public outreach and education at Kennedy Space Center. He leads the monthly “Launch Director Tour” from the KSC Visitors Center complex, in which he explains the risks and rewards of human spaceflight and takes his groups to some of the key facilities at KSC. Leinbach also mentors new and mid-career employees through various leadership and educational forums.

Leinbach retired from NASA in 2011. He and his wife Charlotte reside in Scottsmoor, Florida.

Jonathan H. Wardspent several years of his childhood in Japan and considers the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC, to be his hometown. Although he has a wide variety of interests and has worked in many fields, space exploration is his lifelong passion. His joy of bringing the space program to life for the general public began in high school, when he served as a volunteer tour guide at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum during the Apollo 15 and Apollo 16 missions. He continues his public outreach today, as a Solar System Ambassador for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, as a frequent speaker on space exploration topics to interest groups and at regional conferences, and as an author of books on space history. He is also a regular contributor to online space exploration forums.

Ward brings a unique perspective to his writing that marries a systems view of the topic, fascination with the technology, passion for space exploration, and deep respect for the people who make it all happen.

After studying physics at Carnegie-Mellon University, he transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University, from which he graduated summa cum laude in 1978 with a BS in Psychology. He received a Master of Science in Systems Management degree from the University of Denver in 1992.

Ward is professionally certified as an executive coach by the International Coach Federation and serves on the adjunct staff at the Center for Creative Leadership. His professional experience includes extensive work as an organizational development and leadership consultant, both as an employee of some of America’s largest companies and as an external consultant. He worked for several years with Boeing on the Space Station Freedom program. His varied other roles have included strategic systems planning at Freddie Mac and leading Capital One’s global effectiveness functions.

Ward’s book Rocket Ranch was the bestselling engineering title for technical publisher Springer Books in 2015—quite an accomplishment for a non-engineer author. His books on the Apollo/Saturn program at Kennedy Space Center have been praised as “the perfect balance between presenting the technical aspects of launch preparations and the personal side of what it must have been like to be a part of the Apollo workforce during this incredible time in the history of manned space flight. The overall flow of these two books really makes the reader feel like they have gone back in time and were given their own personal VIP tour of the Kennedy Space Center.”

Roger Launius of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum said, “Jonathan Ward’s Rocket Ranch is an enjoyable overview of the Kennedy Space Center during the 1960s… For those who are interested in Apollo era technology infrastructure at the Kennedy Space Center, this is the book for you.”

Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly said, “ Countdown to a Moon Launch … merits a space on the bookshelf of any Apollo aficionado. Let’s hope that Ward finds time to write more such books.”

Ward and his wife Jane now reside in Greensboro, North Carolina.