Sam Ortega and the Columbia Space Shuttle Disaster - Reporting/Media Article

There are a lot of three word phrases one may hear in their life, such as “I love you”, “I miss you”, or even “See you later”. There is one phrase in your career, however, that you never want to hear. That phrase is, “Lock the doors”. In our industry, that can only mean bad news.

On February 1, 2003, it was exactly those words that were uttered after the Space Shuttle Columbia on its STS-107 return flight home fell apart, ultimately sealing the crew’s fate in the tragic accident. It is surmised by experts that the crew knew something was wrong prior to the breakup of the Orbiter, but they probably didn’t know exactly what was going on. Prior to hearing news reports of the Orbiter breaking up over Texas, the ground crew had been out of contact with the astronauts for ten minutes, which is much longer than the usual one-minute timeframe. “They had been out of communication for ten minutes…they were grasping for data, constantly looking for data,” said Sam Ortega, Manager of the Partnerships Office at NASA Marshall, as he relayed the frantic and desperate search for data indicating that the crew was still okay.

“Launch happened on January 16^th, 2003. Things went well. We noticed there was a debris strike that occurred from foam shedding off from the external tank, but it was not seen to be a very big deal.” Explained Ortega. “A lot of people did [think it was a big deal] and they were pushing…there were a lot of lessons learned.”

The Columbia mission was scheduled to be a 16-day mission, with over 70 experimental payloads including: Space Product Development, Fundamental Space Biology, Bioastronautics, and Physical Sciences. The trip to space was a giant success with a lot of experiments and other work getting accomplished. Unfortunately, it ended in tragedy at 9:00 AM EST on February 1, 2003, as Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew were lost on re-entry, scattering material over a large area of east Texas and western Louisiana.

Within hours, recovery operations were being set up in Lufkin, Texas. The recovery headquarters was set up at the Lufkin Convention Center, which was an optimal place to set up based on floor space and location. Sam was asked to be the NASA Executive Officer supporting the recovery efforts. It was initially told to the recovery leadership team that because of the height and speed of the Space Shuttle, they would be lucky to recover 3 – 7 percent of the aircraft, but because of the efforts of the team and all the volunteers involved, they were able to collect more than 30 percent! They took the collected parts to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where they were able to reconstruct the shuttle and attempt to figure out what went wrong.

“It wasn’t so much what we collected, but what we didn’t collect that was able to help us pinpoint where the problem occurred,” Sam stated. He went on to discuss how it was clear that the debris strike at the time of launch allowed the metal structure of the wing to weaken, then start to melt, followed by the break-up of the entire Orbiter.

The debris path was more than 260 miles long, and 8 miles wide, stretching from Ft. Worth down to northwest Louisiana. President George W. Bush issued a state of emergency for Texas and Louisiana. Disaster field offices were set up in Lufkin and Ft. Worth, Texas; and Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. More than 450 different federal, state, and local agencies, along with numerous volunteer groups totaling more than 25,000 personnel became involved in the cleanup effort. During the cleanup phase, NASA had 4 operational goals to accomplish:

1.       Ensure public safety

2.       Recover the crew

3.       Retrieve evidence

4.       Provide public assistance

With the first objective of ensuring public safety, there were a lot of obstacles that had to be overcome. Telephone hotlines had to be set up to help civilians who were finding debris to call and alert the recovery teams of the findings. The teams had to secure the debris areas, because a lot of the material was either hazardous or had the potential of being dangerous. Then came the task of moving the debris to secure areas, which due to the weight of some of the material, was buried 3 – 4 feet deep in the mud banks of Louisiana.

Often, the biggest problem people had, is they didn’t realize what they had when they brought stuff in to the recovery base. Sam recounted a story when a civilian brought in a box and put it on a table and simply said, “I found this.” After taking a quick look at the item, it was determined that it was one of the pyrotechnic devices from one of the crew’s seats.

A separate team was established to specifically find the remains of the crew members. They were able to locate the entire crew within two weeks. Each morning, the group would gather together, hold staff meeting, say a prayer, and then set out to recover the crew. The remains were sent back to their families in the most respectful manner possible. There are plans underway to establish a permanent memorial for the crew at the Arlington National Cemetery.

The ground search consisted of two phases. The first phase of recovery efforts included the first fourteen days where local, state, and federal agencies along with volunteers recovered what they could from the giant swath of land littered with debris. After the first two weeks, phase 2 began. Fire crews from all over the country were organized to efficiently comb through the entire area, four feet apart from each other. In this manner, they carefully covered every square foot of the more than 2000 square mile area. There were some difficulties getting permission from land owners to search their land, as well as coordinating with local Indian Tribes because there were many sacred Indian mounds and burial sites. Sam stated, however, that most people were more than happy to allow access to their property in an effort to recover Columbia debris.

Food became an issue during the recovery, because a lot of the recovery site was in rural areas where there weren’t a lot of options or resources for food. A lot of generosity came in from local individuals and regional sponsors who provided food and other resources for free.

One of the unique situations that presented itself was that with a lot of 19 – 23 year olds crammed together in a tight location, problems sometimes arose. To counter these contentious situations, outreach events were begun to give the crews an outlet for their long hours of search efforts. Events included movies, concerts, and VIP’s coming out to help motivate and reduce some of the tension. It was later reported that there was an 80 percent drop in incidents at the camps. The recovery of the Columbia Space Shuttle was considered a huge success due to the amount of capable, high quality, compatible people willing to step up and help, clearly articulated missions, community generosity, and leadership transparency.

President Bush said:

“The cause of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose; it is a desire written in the human heart. We are that part of creation which seeks to understand all creation. We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness, and pray they will return. They go in peace for all mankind, and all mankind is in their debt. Our journey into space will go on.”

Sam’s enthusiasm for space can only be overshadowed by the underlying message he shared of caution and safety required in this industry. The outpouring of community support, generosity, and love is also a lesson to each of us to always be willing to help a friend, community, or nation in need.