Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew by Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward (2018)
Bringing Columbia Home is a narrative form non-fiction book that reads like a detective novel. It is the story of the disastrous loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003 and the incredible search and recovering efforts which followed. It is a reflection on human dignity and the effort to correct past mistakes regardless of the challenges involved authored by Michael Leinbach and Jonathan Ward. Leinbach was NASA’s flight director at the time and provides an emotional firsthand account.
The story begins in the lead up to launch. The crew had a successful mission, except for when a piece of foam broke off the shuttle and struck the left-wing during launch. While Columbia was in space, NASA’s top experts determined it was safe to return to Earth. Unfortunately, they were wrong. During re-entry over Texas Columbia disintegrated killing all seven crew members.
Immediately, a massive search and recovery mission began to find the crew’s remains and the pieces of the shuttle. The mission to find Columbia became the largest land-based search in US history involving more than 25,000 people and covering five states. Initially, the search focused on finding the crew’s remains. The primary search zone was Texas. In the most touching scenes of the book, former and current NASA astronauts worked around the clock to find the remains of their friends and colleagues. A local pastor and funeral home director held a brief service before the bodies were placed in an ambulance.
Every part of Columbia was sorted and returned to Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where they would be reassembled in a large hangar to help officials determine the cause of the disaster. Aircraft, helicopters, boats, and ground teams were deployed to find and gather debris. Ordinary people like ranchers and forest service members pitched in and gave directions to the searchers in remote areas. The goal in the recovery was the preservation of the space shuttle program and the safety of future space flights.
What I liked most about Bringing Columbia Home was the apparent care shown by all involved for the crew and the shuttle. There are few remaining heroes in our culture today, but astronauts are among them. Similarly, there are few human endeavors which awaken universal wonder like space exploration. It is ironic that it took the crash of a spacecraft to unite so many people together for one purpose. Everyone cared. In our cynical age it does not seem like people care much about anything other than self-preservation. The story of recovering wreckage and human remains unexpectedly moved me. For these reasons I highly recommend you pick up a copy and read or listen to Bringing Columbia Home.
Page Turner Book Blog by Kyle Page 