01x01 - Part One

[bunniefuu]

- Oh, is that it?

- There it is!

-That's it right

there. There it is.

-Yeah, I see it. I saw it.

- There it is. Oh, it's cool.

- Yeah.

That is cool.

Oh, check that out, man.

-It's going really fast.

-Whoa.

- What the heck is that?

- I don't know.

-Wow.

-Look at the chunks

coming off of it!

- Yeah, I saw that.

- Yeah.

I see what you're saying.

That thing looks like it's

flipping all over the place.

-Oh, yeah.

-I can still see it,

but I'm losing it.

-It was a Saturday morning.

It was a beautiful day.

And as I turned

onto park street,

I heard a loud boom.

[ rumbling ]

-Our house just shook.

We looked at each other,

and we said, "what is that?"

-When I looked up, I

saw a bright white ball.

[ sirens wailing ]

-The phones were

ringing off the hook,

Much more than our

dispatch staff could handle.

-I didn't know if we

were being attacked.

-Search and rescue

teams are warning people

Not to touch any debris,

should they come across it.

-There are some

disturbing pictures

That are coming up

from the broadcasters.

-We're waiting for more

details as to how this happened,

Maybe the beginnings

of why it happened.

♪

-Nasa has declared a state

of emergency over texas.

-There is something amiss.

We are watching mission control.

Nasa has gone

through this before,

17 years ago with

space shuttle challenger.

You can see in their eyes.

-If you work in

human space flight,

This is the worst possible

thing that could ever happen.

-Lean in. Bunch up. Arms.

Bunch up. Bunch up.

- Whole nine yards.

-Lean in there, ilan.

Alright.

- Yeah.

-Here we go.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

Alright. Very good.

[ camera shutter clicking ]

-I was an astronaut

crew secretary.

-Grinning, grinning, grinning.

Smiles. Alright. [ laughter ]

- I would see the crew daily.

- Perfect.

-Let me take my glasses off.

-That'll be in here.

[ laughter ]

I'm not a star-struck

kind of person, right?

But you fly 12,500

miles an hour?

I was like, "yeah! I like you."

[ laughs ]

-Whoo-hoo, baby!

[ laughter ]

-When they got

selected as a crew,

I went and got

their astronaut bio

And I read what they

did, what they liked.

[ laughter ]

I went over and I'm

like, "ah, doctor. Ah.

"dr. Dave brown, surgeon.

Dr. Kalpana chawla, phd."

Laurel laurel was

a submarine doctor.

I thought that was so cool.

Mike he's air force pilot.

And then willie he

was like a test pilot.

Rick he'd already

been up to space.

And then there was ilan.

You know, he was already

a hero in his country.

So I was like, "wow!

We have the juice here!

This will work."

♪

And they came

together to start training.

-Welcome aboard.

-Four of us are

flying for the first time.

Roll camera.

And that could be

seen as a disadvantage.

In some ways, it's an

incredible advantage

Because we have a wealth

of enthusiasm and excitement

That other, more seasoned

crews may not have.

-I was married to laurel clark,

who was on the columbia mission.

We met in navy dive school.

She beat us in

swimming the guys

And that was kind of irritating.

She was just tenacious.

She always had a smile on her

face no matter what happened.

It was really beautiful.

[ both laugh ]

-I feel very fortunate to

be assigned to this mission.

I'm expecting it to be

The experience of

my lifetime so far.

Ready, ready, mark.

-We were so excited.

♪

-I remember going into nasa

Taking a series of photos

With my mom and

dad after school.

I was 7.

I was worried. I was,

like thinking, like,

"how is her hair

gonna fit in there?"

[ chuckles ]

She made everything

joyful all the time.

She was my whole world.

-I remember the columbia

mission being announced.

I mean, I knew them all.

In my class was laurel clark,

Dave brown, and willie mccool.

We were all there

at the same time.

You get your blue flight suit.

That's pretty

exciting. I mean, "yes!"

I've spent 54 days in space

Over four missions.

Most fun thing I've

ever done by far.

There's a lot of risk involved.

I really believe that

humans are explorers.

And in this country, we're

really good at this stuff.

I mean, think about

this for a second.

We sent people to

the moon in the 1960s.

Think about how hard that was.

♪

Americans like that we're a

country that does hard things.

[ applause ]

And nasa does some hard stuff.

-They got the flag up now.

-It's about what it

means for us as a nation

To lead in space.

You know, we have

a record of success.

♪

-Colombia will open

A new chapter in

american space travel.

-This is a once-in-a-lifetime

happening,

The maiden voyage

of the space shuttle.

-I had an emotional

feeling with columbia

Because she was the number one.

She was paving the way

to the utilization of space

In a more practical

way, cheaper, better.

♪

Previously, rockets

were expendable,

One-time use,

But the space shuttle

was reusable in its design

Up to 100 times.

It was a quantum leap

forward in space travel.

-T minus 10, 9, 8,

7, 6, 5, 4

We have main engine start.

♪

♪

-And it's up and away.

Go. Go, columbia, go.

[ all cheering ]

-People had seen apollo

launches exploring the moon.

The space shuttle

reignited that interest.

It was the pride of

the united states.

-Columbia, houston.

-I still think it's

one of the most

Complex machines ever

built by the human race.

♪

In the beginning, there

were four operating shuttles

Columbia, challenger,

atlantis, and discovery.

One of the goals was

to fly 20 missions a year.

Sometimes they

were sending satellites,

Quite a few classified missions

for the department of defense.

Eventually they were used

For assembling and building

the international space station.

But reusability puts

demands on the design

That it has to be

robust and resilient

And come back intact

and fully operational.

It's a huge demand.

And there were

numerous problems.

-The mission aboard

the orbiter columbia

Is a 24/7 science marathon.

In all, there are more

than 59 experiments.

♪

-My husband rick

was the commander

Of the space shuttle columbia.

-Howdy!

[ laughter ]

-Never in my wildest

dreams did I think I'd ever

Meet an astronaut,

much less marry one.

And so he told me. He

said that he wanted

Since he was 4 years old that

he wanted to be an astronaut.

-My name is rick husband.

I'm the commander of sts-107.

We're going to be flying

a 16-day science mission.

-I was, I think,

probably 10 or 11.

I knew it was a big,

in-charge position

And that he would be

the leader of the team.

You think of something like

buzz lightyear, star command.

You're like, "wow, dad's

the commander of a shuttle."

[ laughs ]

-Okay, let's do

like this, you know?

- Yeah.

- While they were in training,

Dave brown, one

of the astronauts,

Came to rick and

asked if it was okay

If he recorded footage of the

crew throughout the mission.

-We're trying to ignore

our best pal, dave,

Who's busy documenting

our journey toward space.

- Dr. Dave!

- Yeah.

- Man, this is above and beyond.

- I know.

6:30.

- Yeah.

-Dave, your camera

is affecting me.

- It is?

- [ laughing ] yeah.

-Kalpana was

definitely one of her kind.

And what everybody

knows about her

Is the first female

astronaut from india.

She was intelligent.

She was hardworking.

She was unstoppable.

♪

- Rolling.

- Take 3, dave and laurel.

-Action!

We're here in the

wind river mountains

With the crew of sts-107.

-Brought to you by the national

outdoor leadership school.

-Well, laurel, are you ready?

-Dave, my palms are

sweaty. My knees are weak.

I'm ready for an

outdoor adventure.

[ all cheering ]

♪

-The crew went on an outdoor

team-building trip in wyoming.

-Now, willie's not safe

until we're all safe, right?

-It was, I think, close

to two weeks long.

- And it comes around

- Right down in this valley.

-My dad had come up with

the idea to help them bond,

And dave filmed the crew

while they were doing that.

[ laughter ]

-This is such a nightmare.

I'm trying to make

these stupid brownies

Because everybody wanted

brownies for breakfast.

-You're not hungry?

- I'm not that hungry.

- No?

-But I would love to have

some breakfast brownies.

That would be delicious.

- Well, there's some right here.

-[ laughs ]

Wow!

Looks kind of like bear scat.

-[ laughs ]

-Well, you know

-On the trip in wyoming,

They had to work

together as a team.

-Mnh!

[ laughter ]

-When you're on

the space shuttle,

You really have

to have a high level

Of what they call

behavioral health

- And what do you think, willie?

- Mm-mmm!

-Where you're not just

technically competent,

But you're low-maintenance

'cause you are inherently

in a confined space.

You can't say, "I'm just gonna

take a time out and go outside

And not deal with your,

you know, b.S. Anymore."

♪

So, nasa had started to realize,

"we got to get a handle on this,

And it's really important."

♪

[ all cheering, whooping ]

-When they came back,

It was like their

bond was forever.

They walked in

sync with each other.

It was like left,

right, left, right.

They were the columbia crew.

They were sts-107.

They were a unit.

- One, two, three.

- One, two, three.

- Excellent.

- Whoo-hoo.

♪

-Michael anderson

was my husband.

We got to go watch

the underwater trainings

To simulate zero gravity.

He was excited, but

if you looked at him,

You would think

calm and collected,

But he was excited.

He would tease the kids

We were gonna go

to mars as a family.

Halfway, he was joking,

but halfway, he was thinking,

"hmm, this would

be kind of cool."

-Check o2 actuator is in eva.

-He loved it. It was his dream.

But he thought about it.

I mean, he thought

about the safety issues,

And he knew he was in

a dangerous career field.

-I'm probably different

than most astronauts.

I really don't enjoy

launches, you know?

I think a launch is a

terrible way to get to space.

When you launch in a rocket,

You're not really

flying that rocket.

You're just sort of hanging on.

Even though we've

gone to great pains

To to make it as safe as we can,

There's always the potential

for something going wrong.

You know, so we try not

to think about those things.

We train and try to prepare

for the things that may go wrong.

But there's always that unknown.

And I guess it's that

unknown that I don't like.

-I went with michael to

florida for the first time

And actually saw the shuttle.

And when I saw it, I was like,

"you really want

to get up in this?

You really, really,

really want to do this?"

[laughs] I remember

saying to him

Because somehow

It didn't look as glamorous

as it did on television.

I was like, "wow, that's,

"you know, the

oldest one in the fleet.

Mnh, I don't know about this."

It looked smaller

to me, you know?

It looked a little older.

I was like, "okay, this

is getting really real."

And then I remember

Thinking about what

happened to challenger.

[ cheers and applause ]

-Space shuttle challenger

is just a few seconds away

From blasting off from

the kennedy space center

Near cape canaveral, florida.

-T-minus 15 seconds.

T-minus 10, 9, 8

7, 6

- 6, 5, 4,

3, 2, 1!

[ cheers and applause ]

♪

- Liftoff confirmed.

- Liftoff.

-Engines throttling up,

three engines now at 104%.

-Challenger go at throttle up.

-Challenger go at throttle up.

♪

[ all gasping, screaming ]

-Vehicle has exploded.

-I hear from launch control

he vehicle has exploded.

That's the orbiter itself.

The shuttle challenger

has exploded.

We must assume that

the crew is not alive.

This is unheralded in the

history of the space program.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have

covered space shuttle launches

Since the very first launch,

Since before the first

launch itself, going way back,

And nothing like this

has ever happened.

[ woman screams ]

-It was a sad day

for all americans.

♪

This was our space program.

This was our national

space program.

And here they lost their

lives doing it for our country.

♪

-When I thought

about challenger,

I talked to michael.

I said, "you know what?

"you're doing what you're doing,

"and I'm glad you're

loving it and liking it,

"but you got a wife

and two little kids here

If something happens."

♪

-We prayed a lot about it.

He talked to us about his faith,

And he was like,

"hey, god has got me.

"like, if something

happens, like,

"god is gonna take care of me,

"he's gonna take

care of, you know,

"you guys as a family.

"you'll be okay.

There are risks to this.

"like, I chose a profession

That, you know, is

dangerous sometimes."

He was like, "but we don't

want to be fearful about it."

-How do you stop somebody

from doing something

That they've worked so

hard to do and achieved

And was so dedicated

and committed to?

I wouldn't have stopped him.

♪

-I was working at nasa then.

I had done this

threat assessment.

Any commercial airliner,

Your chances of a bad

outcome are one in a million,

Probably closer to

one in ten million.

Scuba diving and

flying in general aviation,

Military flying is 1 in 100,000.

The shuttle was 1 in 100.

Your chances of a bad

outcome are 1 in 100.

You know, if somebody told me,

"hey, you can go on

this roller coaster ride,

And there's 1 in 100

chance that you'll die,"

Well, there's no

chance in the world,

No chance in hell

I would do that.

Flying on the space shuttle?

The benefit we get for

our country is enormous.

♪

You know, I think

a lot of us feel

That this is a

tremendous amount of risk

And, you know, there will

be, you know, accidents

And people will

lose their lives,

But I also think that

people generally think

It's not gonna be them.

♪

-Nasa has grounded

its four shuttles

Until at least September

because of small cracks

That have been

found in the fuel lines.

The concern is the

cracks could grow

And splinter into

hazardous chunks of metal.

♪

-They got a bunch of us,

like a dozen engineers,

To go fly down to

kennedy space center

To go look at cracks.

There was copious amounts

of engineering discussion

And testing going on.

-Stop. Thank you.

-If a main engine

were to explode,

That would destroy the

vehicle, it'd be out of control,

We'd lose the

vehicle and the crew.

It's too dangerous

to fly any shuttle

Until we get a handle on this.

It grounded the entire

fleet, including columbia.

-It was, like, delayed

and delayed and delayed.

[ breathes deeply ]

You're kind of glad

that they're dealing

With whatever the issue is,

And you're hoping

that everything's okay.

And, you know, it makes it a

little bit more nerve-wracking.

♪

-Nasa management and

engineering came up with solutions.

Once these propulsion

cracks were fixed and repaired,

We can resume flight.

But I had oversight

into all the missions,

And there were

numerous problems.

Well, the other shuttle fleet

They were just

one after another.

It just wouldn't

end, the damages

And things that

were out of whack.

The tiles were being

damaged every flight.

One time, a large piece of

foam from the gigantic fuel tank

Dented the solid

rocket boosters on liftoff.

Another time, a

vulture hit the tank.

♪

If it hit the windows,

catastrophe.

This is a complex vehicle

That always needs

a lot of caretaking.

♪

♪

-Every single mission

that I was there for

Was scrubbed,

rescheduled, delayed

Because something

wasn't exactly right.

What did catch my

attention, in terms of trouble,

From the very first

time I saw them up close

Was this was 1970s technology.

This was a lot of moving parts,

A lot of mechanical,

moving parts.

And anytime you

have that happen,

It's challenging

to keep it flying.

♪

These weren't

ancient by any means,

But they were getting up there.

-We don't have too much

time 'cause launch is coming.

36 or 37 days to launch,

And it's starting

to get exciting.

-Why is it exciting?

-What do you mean,

why is it exciting?

We're going to space.

Well, for the first

time, at least, for us.

For me, it's exciting.

-This was an amazing,

amazing opportunity.

There were a lot of

israeli fighter pilots

That could have been

chosen to take this role.

But it was my father

that was chosen

To be the first

israeli astronaut.

♪

-I'm just really looking forward

To being able to spend

that much time up in space.

♪

But I tell my son all the time

That my most important

job is being his mother.

♪

Motherhood's been incredible.

-I relied on my mom for so much.

So much.

♪

-Three weeks from the launch,

We were flying from

houston to albuquerque

For christmas, iain

and laurel and I.

-It was my dad flying the plane

And me and our

dog in the back seat.

-And we start hitting

some of this turbulence,

And all of a sudden the plane

gets into this, like, downwash.

It's going down like this.

Well, I mean, we just crashed.

It was just, you know,

bam, slapped down.

And the fact that we survived

Is, to this day, something

I cannot explain.

♪

I think it messed iain up

Because the closer

we got to the flight itself,

He kept saying, "I don't

want you to leave, mom.

I want you to stay

here on earth."

Basically, he said, "I

don't want you to go."

-I, uh, begged her pretty

desperately not to go.

I was

I was very emotional,

and I was crying to stop

Try to stop her from leaving.

-These guys have

trained, you know,

Forever for this mission,

And the last thing they want

Is for them to catch

something and be sick.

That just would be

catastrophic for the mission.

So they put them in

quarantine a week prior.

The children weren't

allowed to be around them.

-I had to say goodbye to him

before he went to quarantine.

And I remember hugging his waist

'cause that's where I

came to him when I was 12.

That moment, actually,

right here in the kitchen,

Um, I remember crying

And just knowing how

much I would miss him.

♪

-I remember we

drove him to quarantine

And we all said goodbye

and, like, had hugs and kisses

And it was a really

sweet moment.

And it was just

us, and that was it.

He was off.

-[ chuckles ]

-This is gonna be good.

-Ilan just walks

into the kitchen,

Starts looking in cupboards,

starts grabbing stuff,

And it just

miraculously happened.

He transformed it.

- Cheers!

-We're almost there.

-The last time iain saw

his mom was in houston,

In the crew quarters at jsc.

And actually they're

supposed to not see their kids

For seven days.

And we snuck him

into crew quarters,

Unbeknownst to anybody else,

For him to get a

hug from his mom.

-She was just reassuring

me that it was gonna be okay

And, "I'll miss you, too,

but, you know, I'll be back."

-It was a very long

hug, you know?

Oh, maybe I don't

know if they knew

It was the last one or not.

Who could deprive a

child of that from his mom?

♪

[ cheers and applause ]

♪

-Absolutely thrilled to be here,

Thrilled to go do a lot of work,

see some incredible things,

And spend some more time

With this great group

of people I'm with today.

[ applause ]

-I left washington to

head down to florida

To witness the launch.

Had an opportunity

to visit with the crew.

The launch of

columbia had occurred

A year and a half after 9/11.

At that time, I was in briefings

To identify, "what are

the high-value targets?

"what are the things that would

be an attraction for t*rrorists

To just get the attention

of the american people?"

One of them was the shuttle.

♪

-The post 9/11 regiment

remains in place,

A huge no-fly zone

around the launch pad

Patrolled by fighters,

Enhanced radars,

surface-to-air missiles,

And the launch time kept

secret until the day before.

♪

-There were gunboats out there.

There is, uh, you know,

frogmen in the water.

-They had sn*pers

on the roof of the hotel,

As well as mounted police

all up and down the beach.

-You could easily hide a

sn*per in a swamp out there

With a high-powered r*fle,

And a couple of

hits in the wrong spot

On the shuttle, and bad day.

-This is shuttle launch control,

Everything is going

well and as planned,

With the countdown for

the launch of columbia

Scheduled for 10:39

a.M., eastern time, sts-107.

♪

-The first one. The

second one comes easy.

-Ooh, good morning.

[ indistinct conversations ]

-How are we doing?

-Alright.

So, we all ready this morning?

-I think we are.

[ chuckles ]

How about you? Are you ready?

- Oh, I'm ready.

I'm ready. I got the easy part.

♪

-Shalom.

-Ready for the big day?

[ chuckles ]

♪

-Plugs. Tethers.

- Hey, dave.

- Dreaming of sleeping in space.

-In 2003, I was responsible

for all the astronauts.

[ laughter ]

- but he's gonna lose.

-I was here supporting. I

was an astronaut myself.

-You're out.

-Every time you get suited up,

There is anticipation.

I don't know.

Anxiety, excitement.

Yeah, launch day

is pretty special.

♪

[ indistinct speaking ]

- Okay.

- Alright. Here we go.

[ hands tapping

rhythmically ] [ laughs ]

-Every launch, we do

this really strange thing

Where we play this card

game, this poker game,

Because it's been done

since neil armstrong.

-You win. You

win. No, that's good.

It's good. It's good to win.

- I get to go to space.

-One step closer to launch here.

-Everything is timed

very specifically.

And they actually

have a, you know

It was an old analog

clock with a marker on it.

Then you just got to

wait. You want to go.

-You know the risk,

And you know what

you're getting ready to do.

You know, if you don't,

You probably shouldn't

be in that business.

-Rick husband got the whole

crew together inside the suit room

Before they went out

the door into the hallway.

And they all got together,

arms around each other,

Head bowed, and said a prayer.

- Amen.

- Amen.

- Amen.

- Christian, hindu, jew,

All together as one

[ cheers and applause ]

As they walked

out of the suit room.

♪

-And our astronauts

are coming out now,

As they are making their

way to the astronaut van.

[ cheers and applause ]

- Morning, ronnie.

- Morning. How you doing?

- Doing great.

- Alright, we're gonna go today.

♪

♪

-There it is.

♪

Let's go.

[ indistinct speaking ]

♪

195, here we come.

- Okay, everybody, high five!

[ all chanting "hup" ]

- Hooray!

- Whoo-hoo!

-Alright.

♪

-Morning, gentlemen.

Welcome to the 195.

We're gonna have a

wonderful day today.

-When you're up

there at 195-foot level

And you're getting

ready to get in the vehicle,

It's pretty amazing.

I mean, you're all suited up,

And this is for real.

And the vehicle it's

venting, it's creaking.

It's like it's alive.

You just can't believe

in a couple hours

You're gonna be

inside this thing,

Blasting off into space.

For me, if there was any

apprehension, it was then,

I mean, but you can't say,

"no, I don't think

I want to do this."

[ chuckles ] you know?

You're pretty much

You're going.

♪

-How do you do? Good to see you.

- Thank you.

- Good to see you.

- Thank you.

- Doc.

-The astronaut

support personnel

The final folks to speak to them

And the crew that's strapping

them in to the vehicle.

-Here we go.

-And the nasa test

director, jeff spaulding,

Has given approval for the crew

To begin entry into the vehicle.

Once they're in their seats,

They will be basically

laying on their backs.

Husband climbing in.

Next to enter the

vehicle will be ilan ramon.

And he is currently taking

his seat on the mid-deck.

-Here at the kennedy

space center in florida,

A lot of concern about security

With the first israeli

astronaut on board columbia

For this 16-day science mission.

I'm there to cover that

launch, like we always were.

I'm three miles away, which

is as close as they let anybody.

-28th launch for columbia,

The 113th shuttle

mission launch.

I'm always thinking

about what I would say

If things go really

wrong, uh, and

Because that's my

responsibility to be that person.

One of the experiments on

board the shuttle columbia

So you sort of have to

go down the list of threats,

If you will, you know,

9/11, ilan ramon.

Did they really

fix those cracks?

And then it's up to, you

know, a million movable parts

All working in synchronicity,

which is kind of the fact

That it ever worked

at all is pretty amazing.

-Back here in the space

shuttle flight control room,

Monitoring columbia's systems

In preparation for the first

shuttle launch of the year.

- Thank you very much.

- The ascent team is led

By flight director leroy

cain for today's launch.

-Okay, folks.

One ops, one, count to 20.

-As a flight controller

in mission control,

Sts-107 was my second mission.

For me, it was always

When you got the

t-minus 10 minute hold

And you give the final

"go/no go" for launch.

That is kind of the

moment where you realize

That this is about to get real.

-Go/no go for launch, final.

Guidance? Gc?

Prop? Gnc? Max?

-For me personally, I could

feel my adrenaline gland just go

And then my heart

rate pick up a little bit.

-You ready for g1 launch target?

-There's a lot

of responsibility.

You're getting ready to

launch a space shuttle

With humans on board.

It is not an easy business.

-Houston, flight is go.

-You're committed at that point,

So now it's focus on

what's ahead of you.

-Countdown clock will

resume on my mark.

Three, two, one, mark.

-T-minus nine

minutes and counting.

[ indistinct conversations ]

-It's a weird feeling, you know?

Your loved one is

strapped into that vehicle,

And it's getting

ready to launch.

I just thought, "I have

absolutely no control

Over how this is gonna go."

-Gls is go for orbiter

access arm retract.

-I do remember

looking at the shuttle

Getting ready to take off.

-He was adamant, now to me,

that he didn't want his mom to go.

And then he started crying.

The whole the whole

launch was him crying.

It was awful.

♪

-I was 12 years old when

the launch date came.

I could see the shuttle

from afar and be like,

"wow, my father is on

that shuttle right now.

He's strapped in, about

to be launched into space."

♪

We were so excited.

It was hard to contain.

-For the first two-plus

minutes of the mission,

With the solid rocket

boosters attached,

There's no option for abort.

You have to wait

till they're done

And burned out and cut away.

That's a death zone.

No matter what

happens in that scenario,

You cannot do anything.

That was when the

challenger went down.

-11, 10

-9, 8, 7,

6, 5, 4,

3, 2, 1. [ cheers and applause ]

-The weird thing is

that you see that flash

And you see that smoke coming up

And it's like, "well

Well, that sucks.

There's no sound."

And then it's [ rumbling ]

"ba-boom."

[ crowd cheering ]

♪

-You don't quite expect

it to be as powerful.

- 107!

- Whoo!

- 107!

- You feel your insides

Shaking and vibrating

from this huge sound.

♪

It's hard not to cry.

-For me, it's like

"the star-spangled

banner" playing.

It's incredibly visceral

and inspirational.

-You sit there and you

look at that trail of fire

And you think, "god, there's

seven people on top of that."

Every time that kind of gets me.

-And you're watching

seven of your closest friends

On this ball of flame

going off into space

And my heart's going like this

And, you know, I got

tears running down my

I mean, it's very emotional.

-Columbia's three main engines

Draining a half a ton

of fuel per second,

Heading towards space

On the first shuttle

mission of the year.

-You know how

on tv it looks like

You're going up really smoothly?

No, not at all.

It's kind of a wild ride.

And there's a lot of vibration.

And on my first

flight, it was so much,

I thought to myself, "there's

something wrong here.

Cannot possibly feel like this."

♪

-Solid rocket booster

separation confirmed.

Guidance now converging.

Columbia's onboard computers

Commanding the main

engine nozzles to gently swivel,

Aiming the shuttle for a

precise target in space

For main engine cutoff.

-I was, like, more nervous.

You know, you see the

plumes of smoke and the fire,

And you kind of

know what's going on,

But you're just kind of like

in the back of your head,

"is I supposed to do

that? Is that correct?

Okay, like, there they

go. Wow, that's so high."

You know, just

all these thoughts,

And then all of a

sudden they're just gone

And you're just

still hearing it.

♪

-And a perfect

launch for columbia,

A perfect climb to orbit,

Seven astronauts now setting off

On a 16-day marathon

scientific mission.

♪

-The space shuttle

columbia is safe in orbit,

And here at the kennedy

space center in florida,

Nasa and the us air force.

Breathing a

collective sigh of relief.

♪

-They're in orbit, and

that's when you're

You know, you're home free.

-So it was like a sigh of relief

When they when

they were, you know,

Up in space, and it was

like, "whew, they made it."

-Let's take a look at

the view from orbit.

This is 225 kilometers above us.

♪

-Once they turn off those

main engines and they're in orbit,

You know, you're in a

relatively safe situation.

You can safely walk

away from the camera.

And they started quickly

playing the launch replays,

And and that

was when we saw it.

I was in our truck.

Producer called me in.

He said, "you

got to look at this."

It was kind of a grainy

image, but, you know,

You see this poof, like a

Like you dropped a

bag of flour on the ground

And it all floated into the air.

Didn't take much of a telephoto

to show this kind of expl*si*n.

He played it over

and over again.

But it did not look good at all.

It looked bad.