spaghettiThunderbolt
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On this day in 2003, seven astronauts gave their lives in their mission of advancing humanity; due to failure of part of the heat shield, the space shuttle Columbia broke up on reentry over Texas, minutes away from a safe landing.
Back row (left to right):
Brown, David McDowell (16 April 1956 - 01 February 2003)
Clark, Laurel Blaire Salton (10 March 1961 - 01 February 2003)
Anderson, Michael Phillip (25 December 1959 - 01 February 2003)
Ramon, Ilan (20 June 1954 - 01 February 2003)
Front row (left to right):
Husband, Richard Douglas (12 July 1957 - 01 February 2003)
Chawla, Kalpana (17 March 1962 - 01 February 2003)
McCool, William Cameron (23 September 1961 - 01 February 2003)
Good luck and godspeed, wherever it is you brave souls may be. Space travel is routine nowadays, but still dangerous; of all those that have slipped the surly bonds of Earth to touch the face of god, 1/5 have not returned: gone, but never forgotten.
Plazmataz
As they passed from us to glory, riding fire in the sky!
encyclopediabritannica
I forget how recent the Columbia disaster was. Seems like ages have passed.
FatboyRich
The engineers on earth all knew they weren’t making it back alive because the heat shield was compromised. Nobody told the crew.
verenelda
Remember hearing this on the radio as my family was driving out to the woods. One of the astronauts was from my home town. :-(
Shrouder
One was the sister of my classmate in HS.
Gorgotron
Used to live in the same neighborhood as the Ramon’s. I grew up with his kids. They moved back to Israel after their father passed. So sad.
whatspaulplayingtoday
A BLACK ASTRONAUT, CYRIL.
skinnymyman
alwaysupvotefuturama
I remember the day. First hearing about the loss of contact, later the footage of the Columbia going down in fiery rain. Tragedy
rrlyrae
i remember with perfect clarity when i learned about columbia, 9/11, and challenger.
mydogisnaked
Am I correct that the name of the gentleman front row left is "Rich Husband"?
spaghettiThunderbolt
Yup. Normally went by Dick Husband, though.
trinxter
Challenger almost exactly 32 years ago, and Apollo 1, 51 years ago.
ItTakesTwoToMakeItOuttaSight
stippet
Why does NASA drink coke?
stippet
They couldn't get 7-up
OlderWiser
http://www.reactiongifs.com/r/me3.gif
nijlonkai
I heard the TV news in my sleep and woke up weeping. I wailed and wailed. My sub at the time thought I was crazy.
BitsofFiction
Michelle Rodriguez has aged well.
KillingTlme
I thought that looked remarkably like her as well. At least there is an easy role for her land now.
sweetmesquite
I remember this. The sonic boom as it went over shook the windows in my house.
oneoliner
I salute you and let's not forget the brave astronauts from the Challenger
kahdri
"Supposedly"? Where did you get that image and did it come with a complimentary tin foil hat?
iLynux
https://www.snopes.com/politics/conspiracy/challenger.asp
spaghettiThunderbolt
Or Ed White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee of Apollo 1, which also happened this time of year. 27 January 1967.
TwoCheese
This doesn’t seem to be commemorative. It says “supposedly died”. :(
crismonsmurff
God I remember seeing that live on tv in school
matthewcw07
Abrausedteleprot
"Explotion"
TweakerTheBarbarian
What kind of conspiratorial bullshit gif is this?
TopherTots
Clicked on it, and now join you in witaf...
SchizophrenicMC
I remember the Columbia disaster vividly. My aunt called to let us know the space shuttle was flying overhead, so we went outside. (1/
SchizophrenicMC
It shot across the sky, as rockets do, and then suddenly there were a lot more contrails. I was 9, but I knew right then: the shuttle (2/
SchizophrenicMC
disintegrated right overhead, and the astronauts would be killed. A heartbreaking moment in our pursuit of the stars. 3/3
HighrockTendales
Obviously a major malfunction
SchizophrenicMC
Challenger, go at throttle up
Buttlickerourpriceshaveneverbeenlower
Remember this vividly. I was close enough to feel the explosion. No joke, I was playing Star Wars Jedi starfighter at the time with my bro.
justareallylongemailaddress
I don't believe space travel is routine. Just look at the documentary with Matt Damon.
zombiebatman
Which one?
DavidBrooker
In the wake of Challenger, Richard Feynman asked NASA's management staff what they thought the odds of disaster was. One in a million, 1/2
DavidBrooker
they said. He asked the engineering staff the same question. About one in fifty was the consensus. 2/2
TheOne11111
They launched in cold weather, play stupid games win stupid prizes
DavidBrooker
The point is not the technical failures, but the ethical failures.
spaghettiThunderbolt
We seriously need to spend less money saving that guy. WWII, Mars, when does this guy's helplessness end?
justareallylongemailaddress
I didn't vote for the guy that wanted to send him all those places.
shimmernshine
When he gets drunk, cuts off his wings, and tries to end all of existence.
Brainlard
Don't you forget the ice planet from Interstellar! This man is more lost than Miley Cyrus' innocence.
Gingaslaya1
Teabagkitten
My middle school on Guam was named after him after this happened.
Teabagkitten
Named after McCool
Shrouder
There's a building on the UT-Arlington campus named after Kalpana Chawla, who was an alum.
notmyfirstrodeo
Bill McCool is still the greatest astronaut name ever!
kahdri
Willie McCool :) Another astronaut calls him that in the Seconds From Disaster episode about this incident.
elduderino19
Dick Husband isn't bad either
itsgottabethehaircotton
The man was my uncles brother, tough day for the family
PuppyLord
Also looks a bit like Kevin Bacon.
Guidocat
As an engineer who builds life critical things, I can't imagine the feeling of seeing something I built killing the people I built it for.
HighrockTendales
Engineers are rarely to blame, it’s the penny pinchers that employ them who usually are
spaghettiThunderbolt
The shuttle was a disaster, and the engineers tried to tell management, but they didn't listen. Miracle we only lost 2/6 shuttles, really.
YoureyouandImnot
Imagine how he inventor of the nuclear bomb must feel. I don't recall the quote, but I do know he greatly regretted it.
spaghettiThunderbolt
On the other hand, nuclear weapons are a big part of what has kept WWIII from happening.
brrrackobama
The engineers tried to stop the launch and Bob Ebeling was frantic, even crying, during the launch. They knew it would explode.
Bonsaipanda
On Challenger's launch, yes. Columbia's heat shield tear was unexpected (iirc).
brrrackobama
O shit, whoops. I thought this was a Challenger post all along. That's what I get for skimming.
spaghettiThunderbolt
They knew heat shield damage happened regularly, but it was never a problem. Multiple missions had similar damage and only made it back due
spaghettiThunderbolt
to the heatshield being damaged in a place where the metal underneath was thick enough to absorb the heat without melting through.
Ravinpaksao
I’m going to hell, but how come the astronauts drink sprite in space. Because they couldn’t get Seven Up
HighrockTendales
They died on the descent, they very much did get up to space. If you’re going to do black humour make it funny bud. X
RossDouglas1
NASA is an acronym of Need Another Seven Astronauts. See you down there.
HeldCaptiveByJeffGoldblum
Godspeed Columbia. Godspeed
tracereading
Am I the only one who thinks the shuttle should've been designed with an independent reentry crew module?
tracereading
Like everyone's up in the cockpit during launch and retrieval, right? Build it so that part can disengage and return if there's a problem.
spaghettiThunderbolt
The lack of an escape system was one of its biggest flaws. For a problem after takeoff but before orbit, a Saturn V crew capsule could
spaghettiThunderbolt
launch itself clear of the rocket and float back down on parachutes. The only choice for the shuttle was fly it to the scene of the crash.
MyNameIsDende
Can someone explain what does Israel flag doing besides American?
spaghettiThunderbolt
Ilan Ramon was Israeli, but was flying/working with NASA.
wolfiedk
ok, did anything seriously happen to the cheap ass lowest price fuckin company that made the faulty sealing rings? NO
spaghettiThunderbolt
Thiokol tried to warn NASA about the orings before Challenger. Columbia had to do with the fuel tank foam damaging part of the heatshield
sgtcoffman
Just learned about this in more detail this week. Thiokol did warn them and the engineer at NASA representing Thiokol voted no on taking off
sgtcoffman
but (I dont remember the guys name) someone from NASA got angry and called the CEO (or higher ups) at Thiokol and after an hour of an
sgtcoffman
undocumented meeting, Thiokols higher ups ok'ed the flight despite knowing their design was flawed and they had a fix already designed just
sgtcoffman
not built yet. They were more afraid of losing the contract than the lives of the Astronauts. Many mistakes from all parties.
binky4me
You realize we're sitting on 45,000 pounds of fuel, one nuclear warhead & a thing that has 270,000 moving parts built by the lowest bidder?
RubesCubes
Don’t wanna cloooose my eyyeees
GaryPewsi
Fuck the hell yess
Chols
*lowest qualified bidder
trinxter
I knew there was a reason mine was rejected.
betarho
I’m 98% scared, 2% excited. Or maybe 98% scared, 2% excited.
swimbikerunrepeatswimbikerunrepeatswimbiwhatwasidoing
as a former submarine driver, this resonates with me
msa011
*Welp*
nichfra
Where's the nuclear warhead in a space shuttle?
GumontheLeg
In every space shuttle behind the bunks, its a concealed weapon since we're on alien turf.
PatterBreaker
Was a reference from the movie Armageddon.
nichfra
whoops that went totally over my head.
SteveIrwinsGhost
Are people not getting the Armageddon reference or willfullying ignoring it?
gonzar09
For God's sakes, I heard Steve Buscemi's voice while reading this. But always remember that Helga's House of Pain is a good back-up career.
ReadySetBake
I think quotation marks would have cleared that up.
binky4me
"You can thank IMGUR's 140 character limit." ~ Binky4me
ReadySetBake
"Thanks Imgur's limit!"