The Mammoth Book of Space Exploration and Disasters

later: that my flight had inspired the elderly, changed the way grandchildren look at their grandparents, and made future flights safer for future astronauts.

Almost two hours after landing, I gripped the handrails of the vehicle stairs and climbed down to the un- flooded runway. I needed to keep my feet wide apart for balance. The crew stayed close, Curt especially. It was that same mutual concern and camaraderie that make NASA and the space program so special.

Curt said a few words. He thanked the launch and ground crews at the Cape, Mission Control in Houston, the payload teams who organized the experiments, and the rest of the supporting players. We did the walk around, but kept it short. Dan and Charlie Precourt walked next to me as I made my duck steps. I noticed vaguely that Curt had put Dis-covery’s nose wheel right on the runway’s center line. Then I encountered a six-inch hose carrying air into the shuttle. I wanted to jump over it – jump for joy. I had gone back into space again; I had completed my checklist. Now I was home. Annie was waiting so I stepped over it instead. I was being forced to act my age, but only for a moment.

The crew of STS-95 were feted at a big parade in New York City, before touring Europe and Japan in January.

The results of Glenn’s tests suggested that there is no reason why older astronauts cannot continue to go into space as active mission participants and research subjects.

The Senate was in recess when he returned from space, but he continued in office until his term ended on 3 January 1999.

The end of Mir

The last crew left the station on 28 August 1999 – since 1986 Mir had been host to 27 expeditions, with almost continuous occupation.

On 23 March 2001, the Mir Space Station was de-orbited into the Pacific Ocean.

Following the plan made by the Russian Aviation and Space Agency (Rosaviacosmos) and RKK Energia (Mir’s operator), a Progress M1-5 cargo ship with increased fuel capacity was launched to Mir, taking four days to reach it – twice as long as a conventional cargo flight to the outpost. The longer trip was designed to conserve the cargo ship’s fuel for the robotic de-orbiting procedure, which required a large amount of propellant.

The Progress M1-5 used its smaller engines for approach and orientation. The ship was docked to Kvant and Mir’s gyrodynes were turned off so they would no longer control the station’s attitude.

The Progress fired three pulses designed to brake the station’s orbital velocity. The first two pulses decreased Mir’s speed by 23 feet (7 meters) per second each, while the third one decreased the speed by 46 feet (14 meters) per second.

The Progress generated the final “killing pulse” which decreased Mir’s speed by 56.8 feet (17.3 meters) per second, slow enough for it to drop out of orbit. It plunged into the Pacific Ocean later that day.

Assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) began in 1998. The European Space Agency, Japan, Canada and Brazil have also contributed to the project. The first crew launched on 31 October 2000 for a five-month test flight although completion of the additional modules was delayed by the grounding of the Shuttle fleet early in 2003. In the meanwhile, the station was supplied by remote-controlled Russian Progress vehicles. Additional modules are scheduled to be added until 2006, for example, a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is currently scheduled for January 2006.

Michael Foale returned to space as commander of ISS Expedition 8, launched on 18 October 2003. On 26 March 2004 Foale and engineer Alexander Kaleri were scheduled to spend a further six months in orbit.

While in orbit, Foale noticed a huge smoke plume over Northern Iraq, which he reported during a video conference with some schoolchildren from Sheffield, England. He said, “There is a huge fire burning in Iraq at the moment. I haven’t seen anything about it on the news.”

Several hours later the fire was confirmed.

First hearing on the Shuttle Columbia accident

On 1 February 2003 the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in flames over Texas whilst making a hypersonic re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere. Its altitude and velocity were much higher than those flown by conventional aircraft.

Audrey T. Leath from the American Institute of Physics reported on the first Hearing on Shuttle Columbia Accident:

On February 12, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee and the House Science Committee came together for the first of many hearings on the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy and its ramifications. “Today we are focusing on the Columbia,” Senate Commerce Chairman John McCain (R-AZ) noted. “At subsequent hearings, we will address the role of manned and unmanned space exploration, the costs and benefits of continuing the shuttle program and our investment in the International Space Station, and the effectiveness of NASA management. More fundamentally, we must examine the goals of our space program. We also must examine the extent to which Congress and the Administration may have neglected the shuttle safety program,” McCain acknowledged. “I view this hearing as the start of a very long conversation we will all be having about the Columbia incident and its ramifications,” added House Science Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R- NY).

Many House and Senate Members questioned NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe during the four-hour joint hearing. As the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, headed by retired Navy Admiral Hal Gehman, had just begun its work, the primary focus of the hearing was not on the cause of the Columbia accident. Instead, many of the questions addressed the composition and independence of the Accident Investigation Board. “I’ve become convinced that the Board’s charter must be rewritten,” Boehlert stated, expressing a concern that was echoed by other Members throughout the hearing. “The words of the charter simply do not guarantee the independence and latitude that both the Administrator and the Admiral have sincerely promised.” O’Keefe explained that a description of the investigation panel had been written into the accident contingency plan developed by NASA following the Challenger incident, but he expressed willingness to modify the Board’s charter and responsibilities to mollify Members’ concerns about its objectivity. “You have our assurance that this distinguished Board will be able to act with genuine independence,” he declared. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) asked whether there was an independent scientist on the panel to provide “that Feynman voice” – a reference to the role played by physicist Richard Feynman during the Challenger accident probe. O’Keefe replied that Gehman was considering several scientists for addition to the Board.

Other major lines of questioning revolved around the age and role of the shuttle fleet, the impact of grounding the fleet on the space station, the amount of science performed on the shuttle and station, and the value of manned versus unmanned space flight. Addressing questions about whether the shuttle’s age was a factor in the accident, O’Keefe admitted that Columbia was “the oldest of the four orbiters,” but said it had recently been upgraded with new technologies, and that NASA had done everything possible “to ensure that age was not a factor.”

O’Keefe also pointed out that NASA had proposed an Integrated Space Transportation Plan that was intended to address the concerns of using the shuttle for both crew transport and cargo capacity. The plan, he said, would focus near-term investments on extending the shuttle’s operational life and providing new crew