All language subtitles for The Space Shuttle That Fell to Earth S01E02

BIRDS SQUAWK

LINDA HAM: OK, good morning and
welcome to the first STS-107 MMT.

Great launch yesterday

and I'm sure everyone's real excited
about getting on orbit here

and finally getting under way
with this science mission.

We just want to report everybody's
all smiles here. That's good.

The second day,
I drive into work kind of euphoric

because another launch,
another successful launch.

You know the
flight director's office

in the Mission Control Center
in Houston is working with them.

They're... Everything's good.

This is the first mission
in a while

that is completely dedicated
to science.

It's the first one in several years.

It's a 16-day flight
with a dual shift.

We have a crew of seven.

Four will be up on one shift and
three will be up on the other shift

so that we can work 24 hours a day.

I walked into the analysis lab

to start reviewing film
from the launch.

I love film analysis, I love
sitting in there doing that work.

In 2003, my team was in charge
of the neighbourhood of 130 cameras.

There's cameras
on the mobile launcher,

there's cameras on the launchpad,

there's layers of cameras to give
you different distances.

You want your imagery
to be able to show you

what is going on
on the exterior of the vehicle.

So, we started
the film at the beginning.

We're watching this lift-off,
you see the roll manoeuvres,

beautiful blue sky.

We do the normal review

and we start pointing out all
the things that we normally see.

You use the shadows
from the projector behind you,

so you see these fingers that, you
know, it's like shadow puppets.

And we got to 81 seconds

and then we see this object
come off

of the external tank area.

It moved down
and then striked the vehicle,

then exploded into a white cloud.

INTERVIEWER: What was your reaction?
Ah...

Inside your head?

My reaction was, "Oh, shit."

ARCHIVE: The shuttle
is the most complicated

space machine ever built.

The world's greatest
electric flying machine.

It has been
a bad day for NASA.

A sense of tragedy
in the space programme

and as word spreads across
the nation...

There are no simple
and easy answers.

We are doing everything
we possibly can

to find out what caused
this accident.

All the warning signs were there.

This didn't have to happen.

We let it happen.

# Everybody was kung-fu fighting

# Those kids were fast as lightning

# In fact, it was a little bit
frightening... #

Columbia, Houston.

A very good morning to the Red team.

To Rick, Laurel, KC and Ilan.

That music was
Kung-Fu Fighting,

selected especially for you
by your dedicated training team.

Is it turned on?

Good morning to all and a special
good morning to my wife Rona,

the love of my life.

I remember myself going
to sleep and imagining

where he is right now.

"I wonder where he is right now?
He's somewhere over us.

"Maybe going around in circles,
around the Earth."

It's surreal.

These seven people who are,
you know, living in space.

Eating and working
and going to the bathroom and...

..and seeing Earth from space.

MAN: Wow.

RICK HUSBAND: Well, actually,
things are going really well

and things have been working well.

Columbia is in great shape

and working absolutely perfectly.

We had a great ride to orbit.

After the launch,
we came home for the next 16 days

we knew that the crew
was going to be in space.

By that point, I mean,
I turned on NASA TV here

and just started
watching the mission.

Next up for the Blue shift
was a blood draw experiment.

Here, Laurel is telling Mike this
isn't going to hurt her a bit.

I think God has put a desire
of pioneering in us

and exploring, and just to see
someone to be able to follow through

with that, and to that level,
is so admirable.

But more than anything, I just loved
listening to Rick's voice.

I loved listening to him talk back
and forth with Mission Control.

Looking at that film,

we were all discussing, "How big
are we talking about a problem?

"How much damage
are we talking about?"

Worst case would have been
damage all the way down

to the skin of the vehicle.

That would have given us
a problem during the landing.

And what does that, in human terms,
what does that really mean?

Well, that probably would have been
loss of vehicle and loss of crew.

So, I went to see Wayne, my boss.

Based on my 20-plus years
of experience,

I can tell you every shuttle flight
that flew had issues.

People came to me as a flight
director or as manager every day.

In this case,
Bob Page knocked on my door,

came into my office and said...

"We've got a problem.

"This is the largest strike of a
vehicle that we have ever seen."

He's a little bit
of a high-energy guy,

so it wasn't unusual,
I didn't think.

But he had a little video
clip that he showed me.

It's really hard to tell
if anything bad had happened.

I mean, this is insulating foam.

It's lightweight.

So, the orange thing
is the external tank.

It's carrying cryogenically
cold liquid oxygen

and hydrogen and it's going to sit
out on the launchpad

in the sunshine.

You don't want that to
start boiling off.

So, over the outside of the tank

there's this spray-on
insulating foam.

Similar to what you have if you
have a leak

and you get the stuff
from the hardware store

and you spray it
around a windowsill.

Cheap, very effective.

But it's got this property that,

as you go through supersonic
flight in the atmosphere,

bits of it come off.

INTERVIEWER: So, foam falling off
during launch

was something that had
happened before?

Yes, it happened all the time.

Maybe not in these big chunks,

but it did happen all the time.

The question is, "How bad
of shape is the orbiter in?"

And Bob said,

"I really wish there was some
way to get more information."

I knew this mission
passed over places

where there were
some high-altitude telescopes.

These are looking at stars, so if
you want to look at the orbiter,

you could probably get the entire
orbiter fit in the field of view

and have extremely good resolution.

And I said, "Well, I don't really
know much about that, Bob.

"We'll have to check."

And so, I got the
assurance from Wayne

that he would make some calls
and he would see what could be done,

and things were put into motion.

Did the crew know at this point?

No.

You don't want to alarm
the crew that early.

They had just gotten onto orbit.

They have a job to do.

When we have the complete story,

then that's when we pass it
on to them.

STATIC CRACKLES

Mom?

Mom?

Miss you.

Bye-bye!

We talked using the early
televideo conferencing capability

and super low-tech bandwidth.

It's ratty com
but it's a very special time.

It was a huge relief being
able to...

..see her again.

But I really couldn't
comprehend that she was in space.

Like, it didn't make
sense to me at all.

HE GIGGLES

It felt like counting down
to Christmas,

waiting for her to get back.

In the NASA world,
people don't talk in terms of,

"It's life or death".

You use the terms,
"Threat to the vehicle and crew,"

or, "Risk to the vehicle and crew".

It might have more power and more
punch if we talk life and death.

But we don't.

There's an old
saying in the space business,

"The first story's never right,"
right?

So, you get the story,
something happened.

It could be the end of the world,
it could be nothing.

So, we were all concerned.

It wasn't like we were going
to do anything immediately

other than get the data and we will
hand it over to the engineers

that are standing ready
to do those sort of analysis.

The second day of the mission
was just an ordinary day for me.

I was ready to go home about
five o'clock on a Friday evening.

PHONE RINGS

And then, I got
a call from my manager.

She said, "Rodney, do you know that

"a large piece of foam
hit the left wing?"

And I think I gasp and I said, "Ooh"
or "Ahh". I made some exclamation.

"No, I did not hear that."

And she said, "They have
just released a video."

Every time I watched the video,

I'm looking at portions
of it or a sector of it,

just to see if I can glean one
more piece of detail out of it.

And the question I had,

"What is that cloud?
That expanding white stuff?"

One can't help but ask, "Is that
part of the wing coming apart?"

ROCK MUSIC PLAYS

Columbia, Houston.

Good morning to the Red team.

I was thinking about this
foam strike all weekend.

And I thought, "Can't we get
the astronauts to look through

"this side hatch window?"

There's a little window right
here, this little dark circle.

Could they have looked back
to this area in here

to see if there's any damage -
debris, residue, anything?

What I was expecting is
you first look with your eyes.

Just look.

And then,
if they'd seen something unusual,

they would have
probably used binoculars.

They have binoculars on board,

and they have
telephoto lenses and cameras.

They would have probably photo
documented this whole thing

and sent it down to the ground.

Once the crew has
reported something,

the ground responds, must respond.

It was a very easy thing to do

and the crew
would have done it happily.

So, let's see.
Rodney sent me an email.

"We know that the Remote
Manipulator System arm and cameras

"are not available, but what
about the left side hatch window?"

He's questioning whether
there's been any action

to ask the crew to look for damage.

LAUREL CLARK: OK, well,
good morning or good evening,

as the case goes for all you guys

working around the
clock there in Houston.

PAUL SHACK: You have to understand,
NASA works on procedures.

We have a mission plan.

Red shift
are just finishing up their day.

Any deviation needs to
be evaluated and assessed

on how it will impact everything.

MISSION CONTROL:
Laurel, just to be advised,

you have about two
minutes of video left.

To deviate from the processes

and the procedures
you'd need to have a reason.

And the reason needs data.

It's not just,
"I have a bad feeling about this."

And I got no reply to my email.

My request was never answered.

Columbia, this is CNN,
how do you read me?

Hey, CNN, we've got
you loud and clear.

Stand by and we'll have you
on the telly here very shortly.

Say hello to the crew of
the space shuttle Columbia,

now travelling above the
Pacific at 17,300 miles an hour.

150 miles above us.

Waving to us. Let's give
you an idea of who's who...

O'BRIEN, VOICEOVER: I remember
interviewing the crew in space.

..Rick Husband, the commander,
second mission. Laurel Clark...

Prepping for that interview,

I thought about the foam
strike and how to handle it.

But on launch day,

when I saw that footage,

I wasn't sure what
to think about it.

I'm not a rocket scientist.

So, I called to somebody who
I know very well at NASA.

I said, "Help me understand how
worried I should be for this."

And he said, "Ah, it's foam,
it's very light material.

"Probably hasn't caused any damage."

INTERVIEWER: So, they're telling
you it's nothing to worry about.

But did you still have
a little concern? I was...

It nagged me the whole mission.

Colonel Ramon. I'm curious, was
the launch what you expected?

I was thinking about the foam.

I just didn't know how to, in a
five-minute interview, set that up.

Are all these experiments working?

They couldn't all be
working as planned.

Well,
things are going very smoothly.

As expected,
there's some minor glitches.

I had gone through this process
of convincing myself

that it was going to be OK.

All right, we're going to
have to leave it at that.

Goodness, look at that little
chalice going by there!

But I had this sinking feeling.

I just... I just didn't feel right.

We spent the weekend
analysing this film.

We estimated the size of the foam.

16 inches across, 18 inches long.

Suitcase size.

So, it's a big chunk of foam,
moving at 750mph.

But in the end,
what we did not know

was the condition
of the vehicle post-strike.

How much thermal protection
system would be left?

Returning from space,

a craft that is going 17,500
miles an hour heats up gases,

and very hot gases
become something we call plasma.

The shuttle is enveloped in this
inferno and it's kind of beautiful.

But, obviously, you want to be
protected from it.

Well, they came to the conclusion
that the best way to deal with that

was to arrange a system of
tiles to cover the shuttle.

All of the black here
shown is all tiles.

And these tiles are made
of a silica fibre material,

which is very heat resistant.

I can show you.

This is a test tile.

There are about 31,000
of them altogether.

And we hope those tiles will stay on

when the orbiter comes back
into the atmosphere,

because otherwise
the craft itself could be damaged.

Well, if you don't have
any tiles on the bottom,

the vehicle's going to burn up.

If you have a lot of tiles on the
bottom, the vehicle won't burn up.

REPORTER: But if something
should happen to the tile,

is there anything at
all that you can do?

During the development of the
space shuttle, in the 1970s,

there was quite an effort
to develop a way to repair

damaged tiles on orbit.

It was a huge effort

and it was an utter failure.

They could not develop anything.

And that was one of the
"accepted risks" of flying in space.

I knew the one tool we had was
changing the way entry is done.

You can change the angle
of attack coming in

so you can lessen
the heat in certain areas.

But you know the calendar
is ticking down.

LINDA HAM: OK. Good morning.
We're ready for roll.

The biggest misimpression
I see in movies and whatnot

is that there's a few guys sitting
around a table making decisions.

It's not like that.

In a meeting,
there's 20, 30 people in the room.

There's people joining from Kennedy,

there's people
from Huntington Beach, California,

a representative from engineering,
a representative from the crew.

The chairman of the meeting
was Linda Ham.

She basically ran this mission.

She was effectively

the deputy to Ron Dittemore,

the program manager
in those days.

Linda has excellent judgment,

can grasp complicated
problems very quickly.

She was the first woman to be
certified as a flight director.

Linda was recalling STS-112,
a flight, two flights before.

MISSION CONTROL:
We have go for main engine start.

Two, one,
we've got booster ignition,

and lift-off of the
space shuttle Atlantis.

STS-112 had...

..a very similar piece
of foam come off

from almost the same location.

But in that case,

the foam hit
a solid rocket booster

and put a dent in it.

The foam travelled, travelled down.

It struck right here.

These three lines.

But, of course,
solid rocket boosters disconnect.

They splash down in the ocean.

It didn't hit the orbiter,

so it was no effect to the flight.

The management team,
they analysed it

and came up with the conclusion that
no safety of flight issue existed.

MISSION CONTROL: Welcome back
to Earth, Atlantis.

And congratulations on a
truly spectacular mission.

But we dodged the
bullet on that one.

The difference with Columbia
is that the foam hit the orbiter,

but you can't see
where on the wing it hit

and how big the damage
to the orbiter may be.

A special team was forming and
I was told that I would be on it.

The mission management
wanted to know how bad it is.

No damage, minimal damage,
or grave damage?

In that room, on the first meeting,

there were probably 12 to 15 people.

They were the best
experts in different fields.

But all we knew was

this was foam
and it hit the left wing.

But WHERE on the left wing,
we did not know.

This is why we naturally
came to the conclusion,

we cannot initiate a credible
analysis

until we know damage location
and extent of damage.

There's nothing credible
we can initiate.

We must have another piece of data,
another image.

We knew that performing a spacewalk
would have been very dangerous.

Spacewalks are always
highly choreographed.

They always go to places
where they have handrails,

where they've had a
chance to practise.

In this case, people would
have been just going out there

and hanging a metal ladder
off the side of the vehicle

where it's going to bang around,
while somebody climbs down there

to see if there's
something there to see.

You're talking about doing something
that very well could have caused

damage to an orbiter
that might be undamaged.

I knew that the military satellites
at that time were extremely good.

There were stories like they could
read licence plates from space.

We have quite a fleet of
spy satellites out there

and most are trying to,
at that time,

chase down terrorists in
Afghanistan or Iraq or whatever.

Aiming it at the shuttle
was a possibility.

That's why the whole group thought
it was a good idea.

"Let's ask for military assets."

"The meeting participants all agreed

"we will always
have big uncertainties

"until we get definitive, better,

"clearer photos of the
wing and body underside."

So in bold face, I put,

"Can we petition (beg) for
outside agency assistance?"

INTERVIEWER: But even
with the satellite images,

what were you hoping
would be achieved?

Once you have this proof,

if there were damage,

then you have experts
just flowing in.

Next thing, you tell the crew.

By informing the crew, they're
now part of the solution.

They had tools.
They had cutting instruments.

You take the available materials,

take the Spacehab apart.

You improvise.

You stuff the hole,

if there was a hole,

with materials that
will delay peak heating.

Then you can you talk about
altering the entry trajectory.

Or if this had been publicised,

the Russians might have
sent up an empty Soyuz.

We did the Apollo 13 scenario.

We would have tried something.

But first, you need the images.

Um...

I thought Rodney was asking
for something that was

out of my ability to obtain.

So, I went to my boss.

I said, "Some engineers
want photographs."

You know, there's uncertainty.

I gave her the facts
and she just said,

"Well, they're still
doing their analysis.

"When they come back
with their answer,

"we'll see what it is,
and then we'll ask."

So, she didn't say, "No."

What she said was,
"Let's get the analysis

"and then, make a further
decision if necessary."

# ..Means no worries

# For the rest of your days

# It's our problem-free

# Philosophy

# Hakuna matata... #

MISSION CONTROL: Good morning, Blue.

That was Hakuna Matata, by
the Baha Men, going out to Mike.

And it was picked
especially for Dad by the kids.

MIKE ANDERSON: Good morning,
Houston. What a wonderful song.

And I'd really like
to thank my kids for that one,

both Sydney and Kaycee.

And it's a really good day to wake
up today and nothing to worry about,

and Blue shift is ready to start
another day of science on orbit.

You know, as a kid, your
imagination just like, runs wild.

I'm like, "Do they just float
and sleep?" Or, you know,

"Does he get to go
out in actual space?

"Did he see aliens?"

Mostly I just
thought like he was an explorer.

Kind of like, I don't know,
like a space Indiana Jones.

You know, we make it a point
to get out and go to schools

and talk to kids all the time.

And when I do that,
I really try to let them

know what it was like for me
when I was a kid growing up.

And how I had this dream of
one day becoming an astronaut.

And that really, if you work hard
and you're always persistent,

you can really make
those dreams come true.

So, I always try to give that

message to the kids
when I talk to them.

He wanted to always be
involved in something that was

kind of bigger than him,

that contributed to society,

that had a purpose.

It was fun to watch him. He looked
like he was enjoying himself.

The crew looked like they were
doing what they needed to be doing

and everything was
going off really well.

And I didn't know, at that time,

that anything
concerning had happened.

There were people that did,
though, but I wasn't one of them.

I was in my office in Florida,

and I got a phone call from the head

of what we call
"systems integrations."

He's an engineer who
I respect very highly.

And he said, "Hey, we really
don't have all the information

"we'd like to have
on this debris strike.

"Do you know of anybody that's got
a way to get better pictures?"

Now I had this engineer
as well as Bob,

asking me to see if I can
find out some more information.

NASA does not own any military
satellites but, at that time,

we had a close working relationship
with the Patrick Air Force Base.

So, I put in a request with them.

INTERVIEWER: How hard could it
be to take a few photographs?

I'm not going to pretend
that it's easy.

I do appreciate the preparation
that would have to go into it.

One would have to
interrupt the mission

to get the right lighting,
to make sure you're over...

The right satellite is in position.

Then now, you have an
army of people on the ground.

We have to reorient the shuttle

for the proper exposure
angles and all that.

And to do that means
they may have to terminate

their science experiments.

In a program manager's mind

that's responsible for getting
shuttles up there on schedule,

if you interrupt
the science mission,

you have the ire of all the people

and the science objectives
were now ruined,

and that looks badly on NASA.

I think that weighed on him, too.

WAYNE HALE: A little bit later
in the day, in the afternoon,

I got a call from
Linda and she said,

"Hey, I heard that you were
trying to get some pictures,

"and I've checked around and
nobody has a requirement for us

"to get any more information.
The engineers have all they need."

What she was telling me
is that none of the managers

was willing to stand up and say,

"We really need to have more
information."

And at that time, I took that as,
well, she was in Houston.

The engineers that are doing
the analysis are there,

she's probably been over.

But she said,
"I want you to turn this off

"because we don't need to bother
those other people."

"OK."

INTERVIEWER: How did you feel
when she said that? I was mad.

Because I don't like
to be overruled.

I'd been trying to act
within my authority,

and I'd been countermanded
by my boss.

Linda Ham knew that NASA's history
with the Department of Defense

in using spy satellites

was a little bit chequered.

There had been a previous mission

where the landing parachute door
came off on launch

so the orbiter was flying with
a parachute without its door.

NASA made a request to
get some kind of imagery.

However,
the photos didn't help much.

INTERVIEWER: OK, so,
even if you could get photographs

it doesn't mean
they'll necessarily show anything?

I think they were a little bit
embarrassed in the end about asking.

And NASA never wants to look stupid.

NASA wants to be the
agency with the answers.

If you'd have said,

"Linda, two different
people need this information,

"their departments are
both asking, are you aware?"

That may have changed
the course of events.

Could I have argued with her? Maybe.

But did I get the impression
that her mind was made up

and, you know,
that was the end of that?

That's kind of where I was.
Is it not worth it

when there's
seven people who could be in a...?

That's easy for you
to say in retrospect.

Then, I wasn't really
concerned about it.

I was going to be a good soldier.

So, I called Air Force Base and
said, "I know I made this request.

"Turns out we don't need it.

"Forget I asked about it."

I was told that we would
not be getting images.

I got angry and confused.

"What does this mean?"

So I emailed Paul Shack.

"Why? Did you do anything about it?"
No reply. No reply.

So, I called him and I got him.

He was shouting at me.

You can't call it an argument

because an argument
takes two people shouting

and just one was
shouting in this case.

I ask him, "Why are you ignoring?

"You didn't reply to my email. Why?
I was asking why you didn't respond.

"Now I have you."

Well, I got sarcastic.

I said, "Don't be a Chicken Little."

NARRATOR: Here is Chicken Little.

A little shy on brains,

but a good egg as chickens go.

I knew that story in
the American folklore.

Hurry, hurry!
The sky is falling!

I've seen the cartoon. He is
portrayed as easily frightened.

Just like I told you!
Hit me on the head!

And the lesson is,
Chicken Little is not to be trusted.

Chicken Little always gets excited.

Paul Shack treated me as if I were

the well-intentioned-but-silly
chicken.

I was very upset and angry

and disappointed with my engineering
organisations top to bottom.

There's a ticking clock.

We were losing time.

This is an email I drafted.

"In my humble technical opinion,

"this is the wrong, and bordering
on irresponsible, answer

"not to request additional imaging
help from any outside source.

"Remember the NASA safety posters
everywhere around stating,

"'If it's not safe, say-so'?

"Yes, it's that serious!"

I felt the need to draft that
email with that strong language,

and the strongest word in there
is accusatory, "irresponsible".

But I struggled on
sending it or not sending it.

I thought, "The astronauts trust us.

"They're in the mission,
we're protecting their lives.

"They want to believe that we're
doing the very best for them."

But I would be going against
all of my engineering management,

and I was afraid
about my future career.

I was married and we had a child,

had a home, had a mortgage.

And I did not send it in the end.

I remember, that Wednesday night
when I came home from work,

he showed me the email

that he had not sent.

He was very agitated...

..very frustrated,

because he wasn't sure what to do.

The thrust was, finish the analysis

even though you have no information

on which to base your analysis.

He said, "It's like being asked

"to analyse a car accident

"that has just happened outside,

"but you're not allowed
to look out the window."

The photo denial forced us
into a rock and a hard place.

We have to produce an analysis
anyway, without a photo.

Now we play volleyball.

And football.

Bicycle kick.

"You guys are doing a
fantastic job staying on timeline

"and accomplishing great science.

"There is one item that
I would like to make you aware of.

"This item is not
even worth mentioning,

"other than wanting to make sure

"that you are not surprised by it
in a question from a reporter.

"During ascent,
at approximately 80 seconds,

"some debris came loose

"and subsequently impacted
the orbiter left wing.

"Experts have reviewed
the high-speed photography

"and there is absolutely no concern
for entry. That is all for now.

"It is a pleasure working
with you every day."

INTERVIEWER: How reassuring
does that seem to be?

Oh, OK, so they saw something.

They're taking care of it.

This email was...

..too short, too sweet, too easy.

I really love seeing
a team to come together.

And the bigger team who makes
this entire mission possible...

..is the team on the ground

and all the folks who work in
Mission Control, all the folks who

work at the different NASA centres.

It's just such a great feeling

for me to see everybody working
together as a team like that.

LINDA HAM: OK, good morning
and welcome to the MMT.

Friday morning, Rodney's
team presented their analysis.

I wasn't presenting
the results of our analysis.

The protocol was that
a senior engineer would

present on our behalf.

We all knew that if the engineers
find out that this is bad,

there is nothing we can do.

If the heat shield was lost,
that was just the endgame.

RODNEY ROCHA: The presentation
showed five scenarios

that we were analysing
over the past few days.

Rodney's concern was uncertainty
in where the damage was.

The way they compensated for that

was to analyse multiple
possible locations.

Instead of analysing this area,

we're going to analyse THIS area.

"It would cause localised heating,

"but no burnthrough,"

I believe, were the
words that they used.

RODNEY ROCHA: When we
completed the analysis,

none of the scenarios
showed a fatal outcome.

I felt some relief. I thought we
were in good shape. I believed him.

I mean, you know, that's
what you want to hear.

You don't want to hear,
"We're going to lose the vehicle."

What's missing in
that is we should have

had, in bold face,
at the very beginning,

"These are engineering
assumption cases.

"We do not know, without extra data,

"whether these are actual
representations of reality."

A "turnaround issue" - what they
meant was "some level of repair".

INTERVIEWER:
So, when Columbia comes back?

When it comes back,
but nothing really bad, that bad.

Just local repair.

Patch it up and let's go again.

And that's what was being
communicated to Linda Ham?

That everything was OK?
Yes. Yes. Yes.

Even though you all sat there
and thought it wasn't OK? Yes.

What, you didn't...

You didn't...
She was in the room with you.

She was in the room with us.

So, what prevented you from
going to talk to her?

The chain-of-command protocol.

You don't approach
managers directly.

You're... You know,
you're a grown man,

and you're in the room
with only 12 people.

I'm a grown man with grown men
telling me not to do that.

There are other grown men

with power and authority saying,
"Don't do that."

What would have been
the repercussions

of talking to her in that room?

I don't know if...

I don't know.

My thoughts at the time of...

I feared the worst, but
I hoped for the best.

Most people,
I think the psychology is,

avoid even thinking about the worst.

You don't want to
face that fear that...

That issue that is the worst.

We've got an announcement
that we'd like to make.

It is today that we remember

and honour the crews of
Apollo 1 and Challenger.

They made the ultimate sacrifice,

giving their lives and service to
their country and for all mankind.

Their dedication and devotion
to the exploration of space

was an inspiration to each of us,

and still motivates people around
the world to achieve great things

in service to others.

As we orbit the Earth, we will
join the entire NASA family

for a moment of
silence in their memory.

Our thoughts and prayers go
to their families, as well.

One day, during the mission,

I worked Mission Control
and it was like 2am.

You know, the graveyard shift.

I was reviewing
the notes of the mission,

and then, here's this foam issue.

Me and my colleague
we were reading that,

and I remember saying,
"Well, that's unusual."

We actually had this discussion of,

"Hey, you can use a family
conference to talk to Laurel

"and find out what they knew."

And you got to remember
the hat you're wearing

is your flight surgeon hat,
not your family hat.

INTERVIEWER: What did
he mean by that in this case?

You found out this
information in the context

of not being a family member,

but being a NASA employee
on the mission.

It actually would have
broken protocol for me

to bring up an issue
to a crew member,

even though it's my wife,

without going through
the official channels.

And when you spoke to Laurel
in the video conference,

did it cross your mind to bring
it up then? No. You know why?

Because that conference
was for Iain and Laurel,

and I was a bystander.

I remember a certain
sense of relief.

Like, it's almost over.
She's almost back, kind of, yeah.

I knew she was going to come back.

I never had a question in my mind.

UPBEAT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC PLAYS

LINDA HAM: Columbia, Houston.
Good morning,

and we're looking forward
to our last day on orbit with you.

Thanks, Mike, we've all enjoyed
the mission down here.

And I think that music woke
up the Control Center, too.

You know, it's been a long 16 days,

and so, we're all just super
excited to see our loved ones again

and just be back to normal,

whatever that looks like.

And the kids decorated
the house for his homecoming

and our neighbours put up flags.

REPORTER: Given the fact that you
may have lost a little bit of tile

during lift-off, I'm wondering
if there is going to be

anything different about the entry
profile, taking that into regard?

No, there isn't.

We, the engineers and analysts,

took a very thorough
look at the situation

with the tile on the left wing,

and we have no concerns whatsoever.

All of the analysis says
that we have plenty of margin

and that the impact
could not have been,

from this particular material,
significant enough...

..and therefore we haven't
changed anything

with respect
to our trajectory design.

So, nothing, nothing different.

It'll be nominal,
standard trajectory.

And as we said,
Columbia coming back,

it's been 16 days now since
she left the Kennedy Space Center.

This is the route.

I remember getting up that day

and we were staying
right next to Banana River.

We got up and there
were dolphin in the water

and looking at the dolphin,

thinking it looked
like a picture-perfect day.

I mean, it was so pretty
and everything was so pleasant.

We show page A1-15 complete.

MISSION CONTROL: And, Rick, we copy.

I just remember standing out
on the balcony with Laura

and watching the sunrise

and just saying to her,
"This is a day you'll never forget."

We're about 42 minutes away
from an engine firing

that would begin Columbia's descent.

The crew, in the final
stages of their preparations now,

are taking their seats.

At the commander seat, Rick Husband.

Pilot Willie McCool.

I was desperately waiting
for my mom to come back.

The thing I was most
excited about was just...

..holding her again
and talking to her.

They put bleachers
close to the runway

and you're driven down there
with your friends and family

that you have invited
for the landing.

They had speakers
and you could hear Rick talking.

MISSION CONTROL: Rick,
we're ready for the manoeuvre.

RODNEY ROCHA: I did not usually
come in for a landing.

To me, those were so routine.

Usually, the orbiter
has been working well,

they have a good weather call.

But I had this wing concern
because of the impact.

So I said, "I will go in."

I realised that most of
those people at those consoles,

they don't know anything that's
been going on for two weeks.

They've been looking at

the condition of this
system, this system,

but they don't know
any other history.

I was the Lead Entry Ground
Controller for the STS-107 mission.

My primary thing is getting
the spacecraft up onto orbit

and getting it back down safely.

That morning, the atmosphere was
upbeat, there's no issues.

We work with the crew to go through
check outs of the orbiter systems.

Rick, we're ready.

Here it comes.

Looks good.

We got all of our systems ready,

all the sensors ready and we

prepared for the
de-orbit preparation,

which is you convert
the space shuttle

from a spacecraft
to a re-entry vehicle.

Everything was proceeding
normally that day.

The big thing that I remember
really paying attention to

shortly before
landing was the weather.

MISSION CONTROL: Flight controllers
are currently monitoring the fog

that has limited visibility
but is dissipating.

Because obviously, it's just
critical to have decent visibility,

no big weather
issues when you're landing.

Flight Director LeRoy Cain
discussing weather conditions

at present with forecasters here.

LeRoy was the person in charge.

So, everybody on their consoles
are monitoring their own systems

and they're all reporting into
LeRoy what they're seeing.

MMACS and GNC, you're ready?

Flight-MMACS, we're ready.
GNC is go.

OK.

Columbia, Houston.

Go ahead, Houston.

Hey, Rick, I guess
you've been wondering,

but you are go
for the de-orbit burn.

We are happy with the weather
at KSC, you are go for the burn.

De-orbit burn is a major
decision in the process.

Once that de-orbit burn is made,

you are committed to landing.

They're coming home.

One way or the other,
they're coming home.

Columbia, Houston.

Good burn, no trim required.

We copy and concur, Houston. Thanks.

Then we'll meet you in post-burn.

REPORTER: Columbia's
altitude now 71 statute miles

as it enters Earth's
atmosphere above the Pacific Ocean.

Its speed, 17,000 mph.

THEY LAUGH

REPORTER: Columbia approaching
the coast of California now.

Wings level, nose angled
up 40 degrees to control heating.

Flight, MMACS

Go ahead, MMACS.

FYI, I've just lost four separate
temperature transducers

on the left side of the vehicle,
hydraulic return temperatures.

RODNEY ROCHA: As time goes on,
we start seeing anomalies.

Sensors are starting to fail.

I mean, you're telling me you lost
them all at exactly the same time?

No, not exactly.

They were within probably four
or five seconds of each other.

There was something that
we didn't understand going on.

And I remember asking
my team, you know,

"Just make double sure.

"Let's double-check
all of our data."

OK. Where is that
instrumentation located?

All four of them are located
in the aft part of the left wing.

Something has gone very wrong.

And it is the left wing.

That's the stomach punch
right there.

And, Columbia, Houston,
we see your tyre pressure messages

and we did not copy your last...

Roger...

STATIC CRACKLES

At some point,
we lost comm with the crew,

but that's actually common.

I mean, you don't
have communications

all the way through entry,

so that didn't initially
get my attention.

Columbia, Houston. Comm check.

MMACS: We've also lost
the nose gear down talkback

and the right main gear
down talkback.

RODNEY ROCHA:
Everybody started to lose sensors.

They were getting
no telemetry whatsoever.

The screens were just going blank,
reading nothing, just turning off.

Columbia, Houston. UHF, comm check.

There was a tenseness
coming into the room.

My focus was forward.

You know, trying to get something
to report to flight that was useful.

But there wasn't anything.

Columbia, Houston. UHF, comm check.

Oh, it was...it was painful.

He makes the call.
We hear nothing.

You look at the screen

and the tracking hadn't
moved from the Dallas area.

FDO, do you have any tracking?

No, sir.

So, at the console that I was at,

we had an off-duty flight director

who called our console and said,

"Hey, I'm watching the landing on TV

"and they're showing this
debris in the sky."

INAUDIBLE CONVERSATION

INAUDIBLE

ELLEN OCHOA, VOICEOVER: That's when
we realised it really was bad.