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shuttle columbia 9 years ago today


Guest tx2sturgis

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Guest tx2sturgis

I was waking up on that morning from a sound slumber in my motorhome which was parked in Amarillo, 9 years ago today when I got the call from a friend wanting to know if I had seen the plasma trails or heard the explosion.

 

I hadnt seen or heard anything I told her...I slept thru it.

 

Turns out that the Shuttle Commander Rick Husband, and his Pilot, Willie McCool, were from Amarillo and Lubbock, and the ship probably began to break up at over 100,000 feet right over these two cities. It disintegrated during re-entry and the debris were scattered all over east Texas.

 

Irony.

 

Well they renamed the Amarillo International Airport to the Rick Husband International Airport in his memory.

 

 

I'm originally from Amarillo. While I never had the pleasure of meeting Rick, I feel like one of 'us' was lost that day.

 

 

What were YOU doing when you heard the news?

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF7kNBv1c6Y]In Memory of Rick Husband (1957-2003) - YouTube[/ame]

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Not a sight I'll soon forget. I was conducting an inspection visit of the Battle Staff Officer Course my training crew was instructing at Naval Air Station Dallas. One of our students suggested that if we were to move outdoors, we should be able to view the space shuttle re-entry and glide path just overhead. Great idea! And, it was a significant military mission to boot so appropriate to our training mission. My instructors had the students fall into formation outdoors, put them at ease, and we waited just a couple of minutes before witnessing the space shuttle re-entry. Since this was a first viewing of a shuttle re-entry for all of us, we were not really sure what to expect. A couple of the sharper young captains (students) voiced the opinion that the shuttle appeared to be breaking apart as we watched. Many others agreed. We viewed the descent all the way to the Eastern horizon, then reformed the class back in the classroom and resumed normal class instruction. My curiosity being piqued, and it being obvious from the viewing that this was not a standard run of the mill shuttle re-entry, I proceeded to my instructor's office to turn on their television and see what the local TV news reporting staff had to say. Sure enough, it was confirmed that the shuttle had come apart with loss of the entire crew. Very sad. I immediately shared this news with my instructor cadre, and they passed the information along to their students. Again, a very sad day.

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Guest tx2sturgis
Not a sight I'll soon forget. ...... A couple of the sharper young captains (students) voiced the opinion that the shuttle appeared to be breaking apart as we watched.....Again, a very sad day.

 

 

Wow....thanks for that. We had all come to accept the shuttle re-entries as very routine.

 

Sad day for sure.

 

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I was working as always. I do remember the day. My co-worker stated that he had saw some thing in the sky and was not sure what it had been. Later we learned it was the shuttle and were shocked.

I also remember were I was the day the Challenger blew up. I was moving the oil rig I was day light driller on. Another sad day indeed. Brave Americans every one and heros for sure.

kickshot

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