STS-114 Astronauts Celebrate Successful Mission, Remember Columbia's Crew
By Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
Space.com
posted: 09 August 2005
05:18 pm ET
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—Hours after touching down on Earth following a
two-week stint in space, the crew of the space shuttle Discovery are
still reintroducing themselves to their home planet after completing
NASA’s first orbiter mission since the Columbia disaster.
"I, personally, am not 100 percent yet," Discovery’s STS-114 mission
commander Eileen Collins told reporters, citing difficulties in once
again acclimating to Earth’s gravity. "I think the first think we want
to do is see our families."
Collins and her six Discovery crewmates safely landed Tuesday on a
concrete runaway at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air
Force Base. Their spacecraft touched down at 8:11:22 a.m. EDT (1211:22
GMT) after a 14-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS)
that marked NASA’s first shuttle flight in more than two and a half years.
Collins, shuttle pilot James Kelly, and STS-114 mission specialists
Stephen Robinson, Charles Camarda and Soichi Noguchi—of the Japanese
Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)—spoke about their two-week space
trip during an afternoon briefing.
Mission specialists Andrew Thomas and Wendy Lawrence were still
undergoing medical testing, which stretched into the briefing time, but
were healthy, Collins said.
"They’re in great shape," Collins said of Thomas and Lawrence. "Don’t
worry about them."
Remembering Columbia
Collins, who landed Discovery at Edwards after weather prevented two
sets of KSC landing attempts, said she and her crew were excited to be
home, but remembered the human price that led to their test flight.
"Today is a very happy day for us," Collins said, "but we have mixed
feelings." The loss of Columbia’s STS-107 astronauts was paramount in
their minds, she added, "so it’s a very bittersweet day for us."
The seven STS-107 astronauts died on Feb. 1, 2003 when Columbia broke
apart during reentry 16 minutes before landing here at Kennedy Space
Center (KSC). The spaceflight was an astounding success, but was cut
short when hot atmospheric gases entered a hole in Columbia’s left wing
gouged by a 1.67-pound chunk of external tank foam weeks earlier at launch.
"Obviously, Columbia was very close in our minds," Noguchi said, adding
that his most precious memories will be the joint meals between
Discovery and ISS crews.
NASA spent more than two years and $1.4 billion redesigning portions of
shuttle external tanks, developing new tools and methods for orbiter
inspection and working to enhance shuttle flight safety.
"Odds are, and we accepted the risk and we were willing to fly," Camarda
said."
Discovery’s flight-tested a new suite of wing leading edge sensors to
detect impacts from launch debris and micrometeorites. The STS-114
astronauts also used a sensor-tipped orbiter inspection boom to scan
their vehicles for damage.
"I was amazed at how clean the vehicle is," Camarda said. "It is one of
the cleanest vehicles we have ever flown."
Even so, a 0.9-pound piece of foam popped free from Discovery’s external
tank during the orbiter’s July 26 launch. That piece did not strike
Discovery, but was one of five chunks too large for NASA’s new
post-Columbia safety standards. In response, shuttle officials announced
early on in the STS-114 flight that they would not launch another
orbiter until the foam issue is resolved.
"We still need to find out exactly what happened and where the foam came
from," Collins said, adding that memories of the Columbia accident and
the STS-107 crew were present during the flight.
Tribute and trepidation
Discovery carried a portrait of Columbia’s lost crew and the STS-114
astronauts held a tribute to the fallen astronauts and others who have
died in the course of space exploration.
"For me, there was a moment of trepidation right before Eileen [Collins]
hit the execute on the de-orbit burn," Kelly said.
The shuttle pilot said that as Collins started the burn, he paid special
attention to the orbiter’s status and watched for signals such as an
uncontrolled yaw, or thrusters firing, that appeared during Columbia’s
ill-fated descent about 16 minutes before landing
"Through that region specifically, I was watching to see if there were
any warning signs coming, not that there was anything to do about it,"
Kelly said. "We had a much better idea on this flight on the shape that
we were in, so there was not too much trepidation going through my mind,
but certainly a moment of reflection."
Spacewalks and beauty
Noguchi and Robinson staged three spacewalks from Discovery’s airlock
during their mission, once if which included a first-ever repair of the
orbiter’s tile-covered heat shield along its belly.
"What it showed is that you can get a spacewalking crewmember under the
orbiter," Robinson said. "I felt like I could perform several types of
repair."
Collins said the views of Earth from space were spectacular, and at the
top of her list of things she’ll miss the most about flying in orbit.
"I’m going to miss looking back at the Earth from space," Collins said.
But human spaceflight, and particularly the shuttle, is a great way to
explore the human spirit, so long as the risk is acceptable, she added.
"Some people say we should stop flying the shuttle because we’ve had an
accident, frankly we’ve had two accidents," Collins said, referring to
both the Columbia and Challenger disasters. "But…we ask you to please
listen to us. Space exploration is just a fantastic part of the human
experience."
--
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