Houston, We Have A Problem (Part 2)

     In a short recap from part 1 (blog posted on January 23, 2013 - Houston We Have A Problem Part 1), our water pipe that connected the house to the city water broke underground and our insurance company paid for our hotel stay at the Residence Inn in Grandville, Michigan.  We were at the hotel just over a week while a crew was at our home in Allegan fixing the water lines.  Brian came "home" from working half way into our hotel stay. 

     One night Brian and I were laying in the queen size bed flipping through the channels on the TV that sat on the long dresser in one of the bedroom in our hotel suite.  Some shows caught our interest for a moment but we mostly couldn't find anything impressive to watch.  We came across one station that did catch our attention.  Before our eyes we were watching astronauts moving about on a shuttle out in space.  Confused, we watched a bit more.  We looked at the corner of the screen where it gave the call letters NASA TV.  We grabbed the hotel TV listing card and realized it was the station live programing of what is going on at NASA.  We had Directv at home and we didn't receive this station, nor did we know it existed. 

     I looked over at Brian.  "Did you know we had a shuttle up in space?" I asked him.

     Without taking his eyes of the TV, "No, I had no idea." 



The crew of the Columbia. 





     I resumed watching the NASA TV.  We seen people wearing blue suits working on something.  You couldn't hear what they were saying.  Every now and then a speaker radio would break the silence and ask the astronauts a question and the astronauts would reply back.  It wasn't overly enjoyable to watch yet there was something intriguing about knowing these astronauts are in outer space doing their work and we are watching them in the comfort of the bed.  We must of fallen asleep because we woke up in the morning with the TV on and more of NASA TV was playing.  We had Christian to take to school and things to do so we shut off the TV and went on with our day.

     It was January 31, 2003.  We couldn't wait for the kids to fall asleep so we can "spy" on what the astronauts are doing.  We found out it was the Columbia that launched January 16.  Their mission was to do an Earth Science research.  They had over 60 different science experiments that involved spiders, insects, bees, and other animals.  They were also working on microgravity research as well.  The camera would go back and forth from the Columbia to Mission Control.  The camera would give a wide angle shot of Mission Control and you can see people walking about and some seated at their posts doing minor things. 

     February 1, we wake up to start another day.  On the radio we heard of the Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry into the atmosphere.  A numb feeling swept across us.  This can't be right, I thought, We were just watching them last night on TV. 

     We got back to the hotel and turned on the NASA TV station.  There was a picture of an empty Mission Control room and a recorded message saying the station is temporarily down for the moment.  Dread fell upon us.  We sat staring at the picture not able to move.  Several hours prior we were watching them move about on the shuttle and now all seven on board perished.  One minute they are coming home and the next minute they are a memory. 

     The cause of the Columbia accident all started from the moment the shuttle took off for outer space.  A hole was made in the shuttle's wing when a piece of foam broke off from the external fuel tank during lift-off.  At the time it didn't seem like a big deal.  It was normal for bits to break off with the stress of lift -off.  When the Columbia was re-entering the atmosphere hot gases entered in the wing of the shuttle causing it to disintegrate.  Parts of the shuttle were found throughout the northeastern part of Texas and into Louisiana.  Over 84,000 pieces have been collected and they are still finding parts of the Columbia to this day. 

Workers piecing the shuttle debris together.



     Some of the odd things that have been recovered is the Caenorhabditis elegans worm, one of the worms the Columbia crew was doing an experiment on.  It was in a petri dish that was in a container that was in a locker.  The worms, actually the decendants of the original worms since they don't live very long, were amazingly found alive.   Astronaunt Kalpana Chawla brought with her 2 Deep Purple CD albums.  The CD's ended up surviving the distruction of the Columbia.  Deep Purple ended up making a song dedicated to the Columbia called, "Contact Lost". 

     If our pipes didn't break we would of never known about the Columbia being up in outer space working on a mission.  We would of found out about it by watching the news like most of America that fateful February 1, day.  We enjoyed being able to watch what they were doing on the shuttle and how Mission Control connected with them.  We felt honored to step inside NASA albeit via TV station but to get an inside look of what went on in the Columbia.