Beginning with the Columbia investigation and ending with the creation and deployment of the NASA Ascent Debris Radar (NDR) System, this article will cover the “Electromagnetics (EM) Backstory” that was instrumental in allowing the Shuttle to safely fly again. While much has been written about the Shuttle program, this specific article will focus on a very little-known element of the Shuttle’s return-to-flight (RTF) story. The Shuttle’s subsequent 22 missions made possible the completion of the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) and provided a final service call for the Hubble Space Telescope, before the Shuttle fleet was retired in 2011. After a lengthy accident investigation and root cause analysis, the Shuttle successfully flew again on July 26, 2005. This accident not only personally affected the extended families of the astronauts, it permanently changed the trajectory of the U.S. O n February 1, 2003, NASA’s Space Shuttle Orbiter Columbia broke apart upon re-entry into the earth’s atmosphere, tragically ending the lives of seven highly-trained and experienced astronauts. With deepest respect, this article is dedicated to the extended families and friends of the astronauts lost on Columbia’s final Shuttle mission. We are pleased to reprint Brian Kent’s article in honor of his keynote presentation at this year’s EMC + SIPI Conference, to be held in Spokane, Washington. Investigations determined the cause was falling debris during liftoff.How Applied Electromagnetics Guided the 22 Post-Columbia Shuttle MissionsĮditor’s Note: This article was originally published in the June 2019 issue of In Compliance Magazine. Among those killed was Ilan Ramon, an Israeli pilot and the first in his nation to go into space. There would also be a horrific reprise in 2003 when another shuttle, the Columbia, exploded during re-entry. There would be new challenges, too, including a rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir. Recruits included Mae Jemison, the first female Black astronaut, and Ellen Ochoa, the first Latina. Ride, who had helped push the investigation, resigned from the astronaut corps. But did Americans need to know that their newly minted heroes’ deaths could have been prevented? “He could not have the agency dragged through the mud.” And so, the panel’s conclusions were softened.Īmerica needed its dead heroes. “Reagan’s Star Wars initiative relied on the shuttle,” Bagby writes. There was an investigation, but privately President Reagan warned its head not to embarrass NASA.
“I don’t like the way he exploits women.”Ī segment from Challenger's right wing is recovered. “I’m not going to do that,” she declared. Asked to appear on a Bob Hope special, she firmly declined. Upon landing, she accepted an official’s bouquet but refused to pose with it. When the shuttle touched down in California a week later, Ride’s fame had only grown, and so had her determination to hold onto her dignity, no matter what NASA’s PR team wanted. Then she concentrated on her job – operating a robotic arm to launch two satellites. “This sure is fun!” Ride exclaimed after takeoff. On launch day, more than half a million people, including Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem, flooded the area around Cape Canaveral. “Sally’s on this crew because she’s well qualified to be here,” he said. When reporters asked the men if having a woman along would be “an inconvenience,” commander Robert Crippen spoke up immediately. Reporters asked Ride if she would start a family after she got back. Ride politely told them they had overestimated.Įven before the launch, media attention was enormous and intrusive. One exercise involved flights, sans seatbelts, in a rapidly plunging plane dubbed “the Vomit Comet.” Much of it involved trying to replicate, on Earth, the weightlessness of space. Although Ride was married to a man during her time at NASA, it was only by reading her obituary decades later that fans would learn she was in a committed relationship with a woman for 27 years.Įven after they were selected, the class that veteran astronauts nicknamed “The New Guys,” or “TNG” – or, adding an expletive, “TFNG” – still had to train hard. (Courtesy of NASA)Īnd there’s Sally Ride, a physics doctorate from Stanford and a tennis whiz who once played with Billie Jean King – but who kept part of her life very private. Pictured left to right: Margaret "Rhea" Seddon Anna Fisher Judith "Judy" Resnik Shannon Lucid Sally Ride and Kathryn "Kathy" Sullivan.
The first six American women astronauts pose with a model of the space shuttle during a press conference announcing their selection.
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