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COLUMBIA
FINAL VOYAGE
THE LAST FLIGHT OF NASA’S FIRST SPACE SHUTTLE
PHILIP CHIEN
COPERNICUS BOOKS
An Imprint of Springer Science+Business Media
in Association with
PRAXIS PUBLISHING, LTD.
© 2006 Praxis Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy-
ing, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
All photos are courtesy of NASA and the Columbia Accident Investigation Board
(CAIB) unless otherwise noted.
Published in the United States by Copernicus Books,
an imprint of Springer Science+Business Media.
Copernicus Books
Springer Science+Business Media
233 Spring Street
New York, NY 10013
www.springer.com
Library of Congress Control Number:
2005932843
Manufactured in the United States of America.
Printed on acid-free paper.
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
ISBN-10: 0-387-27148-1 e-ISBN 0-387-27149-X
ISBN-13: 978-0387-27148-4
FOREWORD
JONATHAN B.CLARK
Columbia—Final Voyage
is the most comprehensive book about the
final mission of Columbia STS-107 to date. I have known the author,
Phil Chien, since I started working shuttle missions as a flight surgeon
in 1998. He was always there asking the shuttle crew questions when
they were at the Cape for their Terminal Count Down Tests and press
conferences just prior to launch. I was always impressed with his very
insightful questions and deep grasp of technical issues. As I have come
to know him more, I am profoundly impressed with his encyclopedic
knowledge of human spaceflight. I can think of no more dedicated
journalist to write this book. He had come to know the STS-107 crew
very well in the long period prior to launch. He was one of a handful of
journalists who was at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space
Center on February 1, 2003, and like all of us felt the visceral emotion
as the clock ticked down to landing time and then started counting up.
This book has captured the essence of human spaceflight and the intri-
cacies of space shuttle operations. A companion CD-ROM [available
for purchase separately] will provide additional historical references for
countless space aficionados, including myself.
Phil has been able to explain the myriad of science experiments on
this flight so that even I can understand them. The book also presents a
very well documented analysis of the Columbia Accident Investigation
Board. The author has also crafted the story behind the story concern-
ing how politics is intertwined with NASA. More importantly, he has
captured the essence of the human spirit—of the crew, the families and
friends, and the people who really make it happen behind the scenes,
in training, science support, and launch and Mission Control. As we all
come to deal with the aftermath of the triumph and tragedy of
Columbia’s final flight, this wonderful book will serve as a guidebook
for us to learn from the past and enable the future.
iii
INTRODUCTION
BUZZ ALDRIN
About 400 people have had the opportunity to fly in space over the past
45 years. Only a few are famous or household names—primarily the
ones who have flown on historic missions, and the ones who died. It’s
regrettable that we remember the Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia
crews primarily because of their deaths. In contrast, most astronauts
remain relatively anonymous people. In this book Philip Chien takes a
passionate look at the people who flew on Columbia’s last mission. Not
just as astronauts—but as people. Most reporters considered STS-107 to
be a “boring non-newsworthy mission.” But Philip Chien went to the
effort to get to know the astronauts and their mission in detail because
they were important as human beings and their mission was important
even if it wasn’t as historic as some other flights.
Rick, Willie, Dave, Kalpana, Laurel, Mike, and Ilan were a varied
group of people—they included military pilots, like the early astronauts,
but also medical doctors and engineers.
In 1969, Neil, Mike, and I flew to the moon in a ship named
“Columbia.” Eleven years after our mission, another ship named
Columbia launched from the very same launch pad. But it was drasti-
cally different. Instead of just space for three people in a small living
space, the Columbia space shuttle was massive—with room to carry
many more people and lots of cargo. And a varied cargo it did carry—
commercial satellites, military payloads, scientific satellites, and plenty
of scientific laboratories. On Columbia’s 28
th
and last mission it was car-
rying one of these scientific laboratories—filled to the brim with science
which could only be performed in space. Many shuttle critics have
claimed that it was a “make work” mission that didn’t have to be flown.
But judge for yourself after reading this book’s chapters about each of
the experiments. STS-107 certainly wasn’t as historic as going to the
moon or building a space station, but it was important in the long run—
extending our knowledge about what we can do in space and even
extending the capabilities of scientific laboratories on Earth.
This book will tell you about the real people who flew on STS-107
and their mission.
iv
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