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Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew

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Voted the Best Space Book of 2018 by the Space Hipsters The dramatic inside story of the epic search and recovery operation after the Columbia space shuttle disaster. On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated on reentry before the nation’s eyes, and all seven astronauts aboard were lost. Author Mike Leinbach, Launch Director of the space shuttle program at NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center was a key leader in the search and recovery effort as NASA, FEMA, the FBI, the US Forest Service, and dozens more federal, state, and local agencies combed an area of rural east Texas the size of Rhode Island for every piece of the shuttle and her crew they could find. Assisted by hundreds of volunteers, it would become the largest ground search operation in US history. This comprehensive account is told in four parts: Parallel ConfusionCourage, Compassion, and CommitmentPicking Up the PiecesA Bittersweet Victory For the first time, here is the definitive inside story of the Columbia disaster and recovery and the inspiring message it ultimately holds. In the aftermath of tragedy, people and communities came together to help bring home the remains of the crew and nearly 40 percent of shuttle, an effort that was instrumental in piecing together what happened so the shuttle program could return to flight and complete the International Space Station. Bringing Columbia Home shares the deeply personal stories that emerged as NASA employees looked for lost colleagues and searchers overcame immense physical, logistical, and emotional challenges and worked together to accomplish the impossible. Featuring a foreword and epilogue by astronauts Robert Crippen and Eileen Collins, and dedicated to the astronauts and recovery search persons who lost their lives, this is an incredible, compelling narrative about the best of humanity in the darkest of times and about how a failure at the pinnacle of human achievement became a story of cooperation and hope. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Arcade


Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more


Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 23, 2018


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 63.2 MB


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled


Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • An Inspiring Story Of Courage In The Face Of Tragedy
Format: Hardcover
On February 1, 2003, the space shuttle Columbia broke up upon re-entry into the earth's atmosphere. Seven crew members were killed in the tragedy. The wounds of the Challenger disaster in January, 1986 were still raw at NASA. Now, another shuttle and crew had paid the ultimate price. In this fine book, authors Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward describe the heroic actions of over twenty-five thousand people who volunteered to search the ground, looking for remnants of the shuttle as well as locating the remains of the crew. The majority of the wreckage fell over eastern Texas and western Louisiana. Within hours of the break-up of Columbia, people were on the ground searching for wreckage and remains of the crew. Two headquarters were established, at Barksdale Air Force Base and in the town of Hemphill, Texas. Over the next several weeks, the searchers brought home debris that accounted for over forty percent of the shuttle. Most importantly, all seven crew members' remains were recovered and sent to their families. Hemphill and the residents there were a tremendous help in the recovery efforts. The local population embraced the recovery effort with incredible strength as well as a desire to do whatever must be done to recover as much of the shuttle as possible. Bonds were formed between the local population and members of NASA that last to this day. By recovering the debris, this allowed workers to determine what happened to cause the Columbia to break up. It also allowed for the remaining shuttles to return to flight so work on the International Space Station could be completed. "Bringing Columbia Home" is a fitting tribute to the members of NASA and other agencies who, along with thousands of local residents, worked tirelessly to recover the remains of Columbia's crew and her wreckage. The story is one of heroism and selfless acts of kindness and sacrifice from people working together for a common goal. Highly recommended. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2018 by Jeffrey T. Munson
    • Great, but very sad
Format: Hardcover
Bringing Columbia Home is the story of the 2003 Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in which the shuttle broke up during reentry. It was written by a former NASA employee who was the launch director when the disaster occurred and published in 2018. The beginning of the book goes through what was happening on the ground as the shuttle lost contact with the ground and how frantic people were becoming as the shuttle was not where it was supposed to be and then missed the landing (which is calculated to the second). Then the author goes through the mission from the beginning, detailing how much was known about the foam strike that occurred during the launch of the shuttle, and the debate that went on about whether the shuttle was actually in danger. The author goes into a lot of detail about the recovery effort, and how the focus at first was recovering the remains of the shuttle crew, and then after the remains of all seven astronauts were found, detailing the major effort made to find as much of the shuttle as they could. The substantive portion of the book is 300 pages long, then there are a couple of appendices that give the names of people who were key to the recovery efforts and a glossary of the NASA terms used. Then there are several pages of endnotes. The book is very emotional, even now 20-plus years after the disaster and is definitely worth reading. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 19, 2023 by SpeedReader
    • Interesting and Informational
Format: Paperback
I enjoyed this book. It's not a compelling read, like a mystery novel, etc. It's not a space book. If fact it says that in the introduction. They do talk some about the Columbia accident and what caused it. But this book is about the recovery effort. Thousands upon thousands of pieces of Columbia were strewn over thousands of square miles in east Texas. The effort to find as many pieces of the shuttle as possible, and the remains of the astronauts, was massive. Much bigger operation than I ever imagined. That part of Texas was not an easy place to look. Very thick woods, bodies of water, snakes and alligators. The story about the white dog that showed up one day as they were recovering the remains of one astronaut is amazing. Turns out a friend of mine in the Forest Service was a part of the recovery effort, which I never knew. It's not a gripping page-turning story, but as the title of my review says, it is very interesting and informational. Very much worth reading. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 19, 2022 by Mike Blagg
    • A must read on many levels
Format: Hardcover
Feb 1 2003 my wife was one month from giving birth to our twins and we watched TV in bed waiting to hear the twin sonic boom as the shuttle went overhead in Florida. To this day we remember the deafening silence of the booms we did not hear. Shortly thereafter came the tragic news. I am a physician benefiting from the tech advances brought by the space race and inspired by watching several of the Apollo lift offs in person and many shuttle flights. I am proud to have served in the USAF and my closest relation to space was supersonic flight and 7Gs in an F-16. The space program inspires my daughters now to achieve excellence in their studies and analytical thinking. This book is captivatingly written detailing the scientific explanations and melding them with the human drama of one of America's most touching and visible tragedies. The book although factual does not end with sorrow and despair but with the clear vision of the triumph of the human spirit and technology ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2018 by BYD123
    • superb
Format: Kindle
Having been a shuttle addict since the 80s, I had the pleasure to go to KSC in 2025 and see the launch pads. It was here that I learnt about the book and loved reading about the tragedy. An awesome account.
Reviewed in the United States on May 26, 2025 by Ian Milligan

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