20 years ago STS 107

[SurferLucas]

I was in my sophomore year at JU, and doing my instrument training. We were holding over DINNS, and we saw Columbia leave Earth for the last time.

I still remember all of us aviation nerds having a drink for the crew the day they didn’t come home. Hateful day.

 

[roundout]

I'm probably going to give away way too much personal info on this one, but screw it.

My dad flew 2 missions on the Shuttle. For one of them, Rick was our designated family escort throughout the launch and the days leading up to it. I was still pretty young but I remember him clearly. He was always a figure of comfort and support for my mom and I during what could often be hectic days filled with PR events and entertaining our guests that had come from all corners of the world. They pick astronauts to escort families throughout their launch experience based on their personal skills and Rick Husband definitely had all the right attributes to be a rockstar at that job.

By 2003 my dad had recently retired from active status and we had moved back home. That afternoon (it was afternoon where I was living at the time) I was just coming home from school like any other day, oblivious to anything, and opened the door to find my mom crying a river. Confused at first, my eyes quickly moved up to the TV with the news channel on showing the trail of debris and the headline that Columbia was lost. Then she told me Rick Husband was the Captain. It's one of those moments that even 20 years later feels like it just happened yesrerday.

Godspeed to the STS-107 crew who made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of space exploration and furthering our scientific knowledge. I hope the lessons learned will not be forgotten in the future

Thanks for sharing.

 

[MFT1Air]

I'm probably going to give away way too much personal info on this one, but screw it.

My dad flew 2 missions on the Shuttle. For one of them, Rick was our designated family escort throughout the launch and the days leading up to it. I was still pretty young but I remember him clearly. He was always a figure of comfort and support for my mom and I during what could often be hectic days filled with PR events and entertaining our guests that had come from all corners of the world. They pick astronauts to escort families throughout their launch experience based on their personal skills and Rick Husband definitely had all the right attributes to be a rockstar at that job.

By 2003 my dad had recently retired from active status and we had moved back home. That afternoon (it was afternoon where I was living at the time) I was just coming home from school like any other day, oblivious to anything, and opened the door to find my mom crying a river. Confused at first, my eyes quickly moved up to the TV with the news channel on showing the trail of debris and the headline that Columbia was lost. Then she told me Rick Husband was the Captain. It's one of those moments that even 20 years later feels like it just happened yesrerday.

Godspeed to the STS-107 crew who made the ultimate sacrifice in the pursuit of space exploration and furthering our scientific knowledge. I hope the lessons learned will not be forgotten in the future

You just reinforced to those who read your post the attitude that shuttle missions were team focused which included the families as well. The late night ascent/entry sims, the orbit sims, the meetings and TDYs to Edwards AFB and the Cape, the preflight quarantine when separated from family. . .we took pride in our responsibilities. <How much "space food" did your father bring him to you from long sims? >

EVERY member of a shuttle mission that I knew treated the mission as if family was onboard. We asked those tough questions; we played devil's advocate to generate dialogue/discussion. We treated EVERY mission as if it were a threat to live or limb. Guess what? It was.

Family first.

Kudos to your pops. Pretty sure that, if Rick did the escort, I met your dad as well.

 

[poser765]

I'm reading about the recovery operation right now and it was a big deal in East Texas so there were probably lots of people around who had been involved.View attachment 69473

Just started reading this thanks to your post. So far an excellent read.