“I couldn’t even watch, I was stuck on this thing” The story behind every camera man, you don’t live the moment yourself but document the moment for everybody else. Thank you for this clip. RIP to the astronauts as well. 14,000 mph is one hell of a way to go.. just saw the documentary on challenger and it mentioned this launch and failed re-entry as well..
He did a great job of keeping it in the shot, even when zoomed. It is one of the best records of the shedding events. The other onlookers reactions of the shedding also help the records. This is historic video.
I can't even imagine if I was one of those people filming and then later learn that the piece of " plasma" was actually a piece of the shuttle and that it broke apart over Texas.
The first piece known to have broken off (in reentry) was just as it entered California's airspace. This footage was captured in Utah. The piece seen breaking off in this video was somewhere between Nevada and New Mexico.
One of the astronauts fell onto a rancher's property in Hemphill, Texas. He quietly observed from his front porch while the corpse was taken to the local funeral home. He keeps the homemade cross on that spot as a memorial to this day.
I had the honor to work for Captain Brown early in my Navy career when we were based in Fallon, NV. He was a commander at the time working as a flight surgeon and in conjunction was also working on a classified program. I was a young sailor at the time, fresh out of Intelligence Specialist tech school. Captain Brown made an immediate impression on me. Not only was Captain Brown the most intelligent person I’d have ever met, he was also one of the nicest, polite, humble officers I had ever met. Captain Brown took me under his wing and taught me so much in such a small amount of time. I worked for him for a year and half or so. I vividly recall watching him work on his application for NASA. I asked him about it one day and I remember he was hopefully optimistic about his chances. He was an amazing human being who had a tremendous impact on this world. He is truly missed. God Bless
That "ball of plasma" was probably the wing-tip on the side where the break in the tiles was, and I couldn't help but become deathly still when he said "there's seven people on that thing!" This video will go on down the ages, remembered in infamy, a reminder of the dangers of crossing the boundaries of space, and the perils of coming home.
Mhm, it's just that to me, it's some deep irony that even though man has left his cradle, the Earth, whether he be leaving, or returning, he faces many dangers just on the edge of home.
“There’s 7 people in that thing” and “look at the chunks coming off of it!” Make this video so eerie, especially since it was a live reaction and they didn’t know what would happen to the shuttle. The early morning gives this video a nostalgic and surreal feeling as well.
The girl watching this video comments "look at all of the stuff falling off this thing." Sharp observation. I would have thought that was normal. Very cool video. RIP...
I saw the shuttle fly over Texas back in ‘97 Was driving in a dark road around 2 am, saw this bright light on the horizon so I pulled over and got out of the car because I remember that it was coming back that morning. It was the absolute coolest thing I’ve ever seen! The brightness, the damn speed it came in, I could actually hear the sound it made and the trail....it was AWESOME Great video guys! Really cool and well made 👍🏻
It’s crushing to watch. I’ve never seen this piece of footage before. So many on the ground watching in awe and wonderment, until they learned of the astronauts’ fates. So heartbreaking.
@@KK_on_KK They died during reentry but the video didn't film it. It probably exploded after it went outside of the camera's range Edit: the debris you can see coming from the spacecraft is actually the spacecraft exploding its in the the video
@@KK_on_KK They successfully landed 27 times but the 28th time there were damage to the heat shield of the left wing. The hot atmospheric gas penetrated the heat shield and boom
Yes....yes..You ( who, btw, sound very young ) did a very, very good job filming this...and should be very proud of maintaining composure / steadiness.....And just think....you are now a part of American history an shall remain so throughout the centuries to come....Well done whomever you are, my friend...
Yeah, a true documenting of the camera person's abject idiocy in not being able to do something as rudimentary as pointing a camera properly. He was literally there to document this on video, and he couldn't even keep the brightest point of light in the sky in the shot. As I've said for a very long time, give someone a camera and tell them to follow a moving object, and you find out useless they truly are.
@@SteveKasian I've said for a long time give someone a comment section to type in and you find out how egotistical they are. Top notch you get high marks.
@@miluwi Thank you, kind sir! I do know how to point a camera, after all, which apparently makes me more competent than 99.9% of humanity. A sad state of affairs, but I'll take the ego boost... me being so 'egotistical' and all. lol
The orbiter had an onboard data recorder from its early days that recorded a lot of things on a separate set of sensors that was not relayed to Mission Control. It actually revealed that immediately after the foam strike the region behind panel 8 and 9 experienced a bit of heat as the Shuttle got into orbit. Then during re-entry, not only did it detect the left wing heating up, 17 out of 19 sensors on the left leading edge were gone before the Shuttle even crossed the California coast. The left landing gear door was being melted in the plasma. It indicated that within 13 sec of the plasma finally breaking through the exposed left wing spar, it widened that hole to 5 inches and ate away the entire spar beam soon enough. It then went on to destroy the wires near the landing gear wheel bay, broke into that, also melted the trusses beams that kept the left wing supported, causing it to warp shape, which was when the first odd drag and yaw effects were seen. It then heated the landing gear strut and probably destroyed the tire pressure sensors. Had that data had been relayed as well, the moment they began reentry, they would have known they were done for. The number of sensors and failures were far more than what Mission control was seeing. One of those bright flash debris on this video was a big chunk of wing, maybe 190 lbs! The weird thing is that the air up there is so thin the crew might have never felt a thing even if the wing FELL off entirely until they got into denser air. Also the Atlantis commander of STS 39 I think who risked a similar issue said that he was watching the trim for asymmetry and if he saw the tell tale signs, he had about 60 sec left to tell mission control what he thought about their analysis.
How thin the air is up there is often overlooked - agree fully - there was essentially a blowtorch entering the wing, enlarging the hole, melting wiring, lines, structure - but the blowtorch was extremely weak, close to a vacuum - hence it was unnoticeable in the early stages, and the reaction control thrusters could easily compensate. It is sad that this was so preventable. The only risk a rescue mission would involve would have been the launch. They could have inspected the damage in orbit, and brought spare parts (leading edge CC) on the rescue shuttle, so Columbia was practically a guaranteed safe return for all astronauts, even if something happened to the rescue shuttle on launch. The rarefied upper atmosphere during the most intense heating also meant that the alternate plan of freezing water into ice blocks, using makeshift thermal protection, (and maybe avoiding left-wing rolls to some degree) would have at least given the astronauts some chance at a safe return. Columbia did everything she could to get these astronauts home safely, and managed to maintain stable flight through a lot of the re-entry. May these brave souls rest in peace 🙏
I got chills from their words as they commented on this. They had no idea how true, and heart wrenching, their words were. Thank you for sharing this historic piece of evidence so we may more clearly honor the lives that were lost. ❤️😢
When he says "seems to be flipping around all over the place" - imagine the terror and absolutely horrific chaos happening in these moments. Glad you got this video. Also sad this exists.
I watched it fly overhead that morning in the San Francisco bay area. Stood in my driveway and waiting for it before heading to work. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but just a few minutes later I was listening to the news in my truck and heard that something went wrong. My heart just sank.
No, it was not "flipping over"... That live comment by my friend was simply his perception through a shaky unsteady binocular view. Everything for the crew was normal until about two minutes after my video ends. Commander Husband's communications were calm and told of no issues up to that point. Then the orbiter lost attitude and quikly broke up. Read the CAIB final report. It's ALL there. Thanks for the comment, but the shuttle simply was not flipping whatsoever
It wasn't flipping over but by this point, the damage was already well under way and the wing was experiencing serious structural erosion. That's why it was unusually visible and leaving streaks behind it. The first abnormal sensor reading occurred 08:48 but only recorded on a data recorder and not transmitted to ground at the time and by 08:53, observers were reporting visible debris and an unusually bright glow around the orbiter as well as bright streaks being left in it's trail. It crossed into Nevada airspace at 08:54:25. Over the next 4 minutes, 19 abnormal flashes were observed before the crew reported anomalous sensor readings and not long after that we all know what happened :-( The orbiter definitely wasn't out of control in your video but it was certainly undergoing severe damage which the autopilot was compensating for as best it could but within a few minutes, the damage was too massive to remain in controlled flight. I think the thing that strikes me about this video is that many people on the ground knew something was wrong before the crew did. The only positive thing I can say is at least they weren't able to agonise over their impending fate for significant amount of time but it's a small mercy.
I missed work and was sick in bed while be watching this on live TV broadcast. I realized immediately something was wrong when I saw the trail of flaming debris. I cried all day... those poor people..😟😢😭 God bless them✝️♥️🥀
Great footage. I remember dropping my son off for a school event (Houston) and seeing Columbia break apart as I was leaving the parking lot. I immediately knew what happened, nothing on the radio but as I got home 20 min. later the first reports were coming in on television. It just made you feel sick to understand what was happening.
And those 7 people had no idea at this exact point, even a few minutes later their only warning was some unusual sensor readings. The actual time between them being aware something might be amiss and total loss of control was so quick that the commander got cut off mid word while discussing sensor readings.
@@nicholasrancourt4540 If you're implying the voice comms DIDN'T cut off at that point then you're deluded because there's multiple amatuer videos of the shuttle breaking up subsequently. People on the ground knew what was happening before mission control did. There was a live broadcast from mission control when this happend. Do you think they were just "pretending" to try and reestablish contact? How did they manage to pull that off in real time? There was less than a second between loss of signal and loss of all electrical power due to the shuttle being torn apart. Voice comms were impossible beyond this point either internally or to ground.
@@ValleyRC Dude, they obviously have video of part of the event. You can see the video footage out there from inside, and it cuts out before anything happens. That means they have footage of the astronauts dying.
The two shuttle disasters of my time I got to experienced live. The Challenger explosion as a kids watching live because my second grade teacher was a runner up to be chosen for the flight. Columbia 17 years later while working on a Saturday just south of Houston I looked up and watched something disintegrating as it streaked across the sky. At the end of that era I did get to see the shuttle Discovery being flown on the back of a 747 just above building tops on its way to California from Houston.
I wrote to nasa as a kid in the 90s and got a huge packet with shuttle info and the pictures of the astronauts all personally autographed. Had one of the guys on the Columbia in it. Treasure that pic.
" Their in Texas right now" Those last words they spoke gave me chills. That morning I was in Dominguez unit state jail San Antonio Texas. One guy who had been out in the weights area that morning by himself was in the dorm talkin about how there was a bright light out there and he couldn't tell what it was and so on and so on. Then we turn on the TV and on the news they're talking about how the space shuttle had disintegrated Over Texas. We all looked at each other and automatically knew what this guy was telling us was true and we knew what happened. God bless those people and their families. Amen
NASA had a glowing pre operation report when the Space Shuttle project was on the drawing boards. Not only was it incredibly safer than it was in reality but NASA hoped it would eventually be a weekly event to see this happen. A five ship fleet could only max out 4 launches a year in reality. Terrible.
@@martintheiss743 there was actually only at max 4 orbiters at once, the fleet first consisted of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis, after Challenger was lost they replaced it with Endeavor bringing it back up to 4, after Columbia was lost it wasn’t replaced so for the last of the program there was only 3 in the fleet
The father and his children sharing this moment in history is just such an amazing feeling.... Kudos to them. Don't get me wrong, obviously this turned tragic and I'm sorry for the lost lives. God bless us all.
That’s gut wrenching.. I wonder if this was one of the first videos that showed the shuttle starting to fall apart. Especially since it broke up over Texas.. this shows chunks of debris falling off when they went over Arizona. Chilling.
Decent theory, but the crew cabin video "stops" well before my taping of the event even began. The cabin video ends while Columbia was over the Pacific well west of the California coast.
The big chunk that came off was probably the wing, which had a gaping hole on its front edge. The hole was created at launch, when a piece of foam hit it at high velocity.
A tile or 2 from the wing maybe. once the wing came off the shuttle disinegrated., that happened over Texas but no doubt those astronauts knew something was terribly wrong as this was filmed.
@@bindlepig8064 According to Wikipedia, they could not see the wing, and did not have all the information available to mission control. Their first indication that something was wrong would have been when a large piece of thermal tile was blown off the spaceship, which would have probably caused a thud. Then the hydraulic pressure alarm sounded around 30 seconds before tragedy struck, and it would have been the moment the crew would have known that they were out of control.
RIP Rick Husband (1957-2003) William C. McCool (1961-2003) Michael P. Anderson (1959-2003) Kalpana Chawla (1962-2003) David M. Brown (1956-2003) Laurel Clark (1961-2003) and Ilan Ramon (1954-2003)
Since this video was posted, has anyone read, seen or heard any credible determination as to what debris was most likely shed from the shuttle during that pass? Has NASA estimated where that debris might have reached the earth if it did not burn up? Just wondering how much debris will continue to be found in the years to come that will more fully document how the breakup took place. Thanks for posting the video.
+Robin Duggan The orbiter was at about 120,000 ft. when it broke up. All the debris made it to the ground, 80,000 pieces were recovered of all sizes. Many things made it to the ground un-burned depending on their storage area, their place on the orbiter and their mass.
+Robin Duggan Columbia was at still well over 200,000 ft when this video was taken, and had been seen shedding debris since it passed over the California coast. Houston was aware of a problem, beginning with the loss of multiple, unrelated system sensors on the left wing. It would seem likely that the burning debris seen in this video was a section of tiles from the leading edge / underside of the left wing, if not a portion of the wing itself, which may not have survived reentry.
+Robin Duggan The break-up has been well explained ...The leading edge of the left -wing was pierced by a piece of foam insulation ( impact speed estimated to be around 500 MPH based on experiments ) . When the shuttle re-entered hot gasses entered the wing spar area, heating the interior of the wing and slowly melting the aluminum structure of wing .... I remember a tile was discovered just inside the California /Nevada state line ....Who knows what that big chunk was that was easily visible in the vid but I think by that time that poor crew must have known they'd be lucky to see home again ......The video that shows the crew all calm and happy is falsely Titled ;....It is not just before the break-up of the structure begins ...That vid ends while they are still over the Pacific and haven't even passed over the California coast ......
You must have been devastated when you found out about the tragedy of those seven American heroes who lost their lives not long after you shot this. May they rest in peace- we will never forget them.
3:25 the irony of this comment 18 years later where everyone has their phone out to record everything & can't be in the moment. However, thank you for being the one stuck in the camera.
So that piece that broke off was long before the total failure... Did they know about that happening on the shuttle at the time, or did they think everything was going fine until they were over Texas? I was 9 when this happened. It still breaks my heart that those amazing people died doing something I could only ever dream of. Great camera work by the way, thank you. I have never seen this footage before but I'm glad you have it.
Columbia disintegrated about 2 minutes after it disappeared on this video so it's not THE explosion. What is visible is one of the debris coming off from the left wing as at this point it was already being penetrated by the plasma around it.
There's no real explosion per se. It disintegrated, and probably had smaller explosions from the hypergolic propellants, but they wouldn't be seen very well from terra firma.
It’s possible that could have been a landing gear door, after the super heated plasma coming in the hole in the wing root caused the tire to heat, expand, and explode.
The kid being a smart aleck at the beginning (“wow, look at that red octagon!”) always gets me haha. I’ve seen this video many times, and I’m always struck by how the whole interaction is just so…normal. The vibe is so laid back and cozy. Not at all like the disaster that was about to unfold.
Wow so awesome, have to appreciate things like that . I once saw a space shuttle orbiting earth 🌎 at night personally I loved it . What you video taped is awesome thanks for doing it
Great Video. Im from Chicago but was living in Tucson for a year and remember it. Sad news but at least you saw footage and stuff that is real. RIP Columbia
I like how you show the borderlines! It makes it even more interesting.👍🏼 This is a part of history. The last comment in the video was said with excitement: “They’re in Texas right now.” 😞
I saw a race plane crash into the stands at the Reno Air Races killing at least 16 people, so I know exactly how you felt when you got the news. Shear excitement turns into complete and total sadness. Thanks for the great upload!
again this video soo important cause they never found all the pieces of wreck and perfect example why is this video cause it shows that pieces was falling off miles and miles away from where they found the less of it
Never saw this before. Great job with the camera. Had no idea you were recording history. Perhaps even an important piece of footage for the investigation.
+dynelol The people on board didn't know what to think until NASA told them of all the flight wing integrity errors there were. But by then it was too late
You could see the "off center" bright stream from the wing. I've seen videos that show a much brighter blob break off and slowly back away from the Shuttle. I fear the crew would have had to notice that, it would have been above the ship and the light would flooded the cockpit through the two over head windows (the same windows that Lauren Clark briefly video taped through about 10 mins before the breakup and before anything was clearly amiss). The first direct warning from the system was the warning about the left main gear tire pressure. At that point the thought would be "left tire, left wing got hit by foam". Pretty sure you can almost see that thought on Cain's face when MACS informs him that he had just lost hydraulic sensors on the left side of the ship. It was criminal that NASA did not have the crew do some kind of EVA to take a look. Once you see the gaping hole in the leading edge, you immediately put the ship into endurance mode to conserve consumables. Columbia had consumables for a 14 day mission and that easily could have been stretched out to 30 days (per NASA). Then you get Atlantis out to the pad, launch and rescue the crew.
The ionization that Clark is filming is coming from over the nose during re-entry. You can't see the wing at all from the cockpit or the aerodynamic affects of re-entry. All of your comments make sense but in this case it is easier said then done.
I am wondering would the MCC have been able to attempt a splash down with the help of that speed-breaker chute the moment they know about the drop in landing gear tire pressure. Certainly this is my wild imagination.
"Pretty sure you can almost see that thought on Cain's face when MACS informs him that he had just lost hydraulic sensors on the left side of the ship" And while he is not to "blame" for a complex series of events on a profoundly complex and dangerous machine, there were certainly people at NASA responsible for the decision making process. I still recall the idiot CNN "expert" who repeated uncritically that NASA engineers were looking at that foam strike "simply because the fight was going so perfectly that they had nothing better to do." We know that was a lie and we know that a number of NASA engineers where very alarmed but told not to rock the boat
![Blox Fruits Dragon Rework Update [Full Stream]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/EqDAp8udhm0/mqdefault.jpg)
“I couldn’t even watch, I was stuck on this thing”
The story behind every camera man, you don’t live the moment yourself but document the moment for everybody else. Thank you for this clip.
RIP to the astronauts as well. 14,000 mph is one hell of a way to go.. just saw the documentary on challenger and it mentioned this launch and failed re-entry as well..
“There’s seven people in that thing!”
God that line was terrifying
He did a great job of keeping it in the shot, even when zoomed. It is one of the best records of the shedding events. The other onlookers reactions of the shedding also help the records. This is historic video.
I can't even imagine if I was one of those people filming and then later learn that the piece of " plasma" was actually a piece of the shuttle and that it broke apart over Texas.
The first piece known to have broken off (in reentry) was just as it entered California's airspace. This footage was captured in Utah. The piece seen breaking off in this video was somewhere between Nevada and New Mexico.
Incredible video respect that you shared it thanks from Belgium 🇧🇪 ..RIP to the Astronauts of Colombia..😔
1:36 "look at that big ball of fire."
:/
One of the astronauts fell onto a rancher's property in Hemphill, Texas. He quietly observed from his front porch while the corpse was taken to the local funeral home.
He keeps the homemade cross on that spot as a memorial to this day.
@@DrLuke49 That’s a haunting and disturbing story. Do you know the name of the rancher?
I had the honor to work for Captain Brown early in my Navy career when we were based in Fallon, NV. He was a commander at the time working as a flight surgeon and in conjunction was also working on a classified program. I was a young sailor at the time, fresh out of Intelligence Specialist tech school. Captain Brown made an immediate impression on me. Not only was Captain Brown the most intelligent person I’d have ever met, he was also one of the nicest, polite, humble officers I had ever met. Captain Brown took me under his wing and taught me so much in such a small amount of time. I worked for him for a year and half or so. I vividly recall watching him work on his application for NASA. I asked him about it one day and I remember he was hopefully optimistic about his chances. He was an amazing human being who had a tremendous impact on this world. He is truly missed. God Bless
Very nice tribute. Thank you for those memories.
And thank you for coping and pasting it on literally every Challenger video...
@@Trialnerror "coping"?
@@Trialnerror Columbia *
@@Trialnerror people are so weird LOL
“They’re in Texas now.” It is unfortunate how eerie and ominous that sentence would become.
Rest peacefully, you seven brave heroes.
gOOGLE SYMPATHY, U PEOPLE WOULD LET SOMEONE DIE ON THE STREET BUT ON THE INTERNET YOU ARE ALL FULL OF LOVE AND SYMPATHY, FUCK U
@@Thedarkportalshow Go get help.
@@andrewtr001 yes Mr. Maniac Liberal
@@Thedarkportalshow seek therapy
@@4GAce freedom of speech is my therapy you liberal clown.
That "ball of plasma" was probably the wing-tip on the side where the break in the tiles was, and I couldn't help but become deathly still when he said "there's seven people on that thing!" This video will go on down the ages, remembered in infamy, a reminder of the dangers of crossing the boundaries of space, and the perils of coming home.
Medney Existence is dangerous no matter what.
Mhm, it's just that to me, it's some deep irony that even though man has left his cradle, the Earth, whether he be leaving, or returning, he faces many dangers just on the edge of home.
leading edge of left wing,
To hear the guy recording say they are over texas right now,that sent shivers down my spine.
That's a hell of a way to die! Not something stupid like a drug overdose or drunk driving ..
“There’s 7 people in that thing” and “look at the chunks coming off of it!” Make this video so eerie, especially since it was a live reaction and they didn’t know what would happen to the shuttle. The early morning gives this video a nostalgic and surreal feeling as well.
The girl watching this video comments "look at all of the stuff falling off this thing." Sharp observation. I would have thought that was normal. Very cool video. RIP...
Debbie Lyons you’re an idiot then
that wasnt the chick who said that, chicks are dumb...just like you.
That was a young boy talking, not a girl.
@@paulblart3157 not everyone studies space shuttle reentry physics. Dont be so condescending.
I saw the shuttle fly over Texas back in ‘97
Was driving in a dark road around 2 am, saw this bright light on the horizon so I pulled over and got out of the car because I remember that it was coming back that morning.
It was the absolute coolest thing I’ve ever seen! The brightness, the damn speed it came in, I could actually hear the sound it made and the trail....it was AWESOME
Great video guys! Really cool and well made 👍🏻
After all these years, I I had never heard of this footage or seen it until now. So glad you were able to capture the moment.
It’s crushing to watch. I’ve never seen this piece of footage before. So many on the ground watching in awe and wonderment, until they learned of the astronauts’ fates. So heartbreaking.
Thank you for sharing, HISTORIC video you have on your hands.. RIP to those who died.
xXSeaPotato Xx This should be included in the Library of Congress collection of culturally significant films and videos...
@@jaydouglas8845 you can literally see chunks coming off. They caught the beginning of the breskup on camera.
I don't see anyone dying in the video.
@@KK_on_KK They died during reentry but the video didn't film it. It probably exploded after it went outside of the camera's range
Edit: the debris you can see coming from the spacecraft is actually the spacecraft exploding its in the the video
@@KK_on_KK They successfully landed 27 times but the 28th time there were damage to the heat shield of the left wing. The hot atmospheric gas penetrated the heat shield and boom
2:07: 'Look at the Chunks" Even the Videographers knew something was up at this point.
Haha the dude said is it ice?, other guy said no plasma and was never mentioned again.
nearly eveyone did
This is an important video cause it shows you how many miles away it started to break apart
I now live in Reno NV. It is not close to where Texas is. I believe it was near the flight track.
How have I never seen this video? What an absolutely FANTASTIC video you took. Seriously you recorded a piece of history. You should be proud!
Yes....yes..You ( who, btw, sound very young ) did a very, very good job filming this...and should be very proud of maintaining composure / steadiness.....And just think....you are now a part of American history an shall remain so throughout the centuries to come....Well done whomever you are, my friend...
tankmaster1018 - Um, your comment is awfully chipper for a macabre video.
@@polite_as_fuck Don’t be so sensitive.
@@automatoncollectives7237 Ouch.
The people shooting this were very smart. They realized the "pieces" coming off were not normal.
I think they are used to watch shuttles reentries, for they must live under their usual path
One of them said it looks like its flipping around all over the place, unless its just my eyes.
@@BMWaM3 Good chance it was flipping and burning by this point.
Actually, they suggested they were ice or plasma. They got one thing right - it was a fireball.
@@claudemcwhorter It was burning, throughout the video. ]]
"There's 7 people in that thing"
If only they knew
tHEY KNEW, SEVEN PEOPLE ON BOARD
Knew what?
@@mywifesboyfriend5741 That those seven people would be dead in 3 minutes.
@@nathanrobinson2130 I believe they probably knew by then.
@@mywifesboyfriend5741 They were on the ground and thought the debris was "plasma." Not even mission control knew at that point.
A true documentary of American space history. Thank you for posting.
Yeah, a true documenting of the camera person's abject idiocy in not being able to do something as rudimentary as pointing a camera properly. He was literally there to document this on video, and he couldn't even keep the brightest point of light in the sky in the shot. As I've said for a very long time, give someone a camera and tell them to follow a moving object, and you find out useless they truly are.
@@SteveKasian I've said for a long time give someone a comment section to type in and you find out how egotistical they are. Top notch you get high marks.
@@miluwi Thank you, kind sir! I do know how to point a camera, after all, which apparently makes me more competent than 99.9% of humanity. A sad state of affairs, but I'll take the ego boost... me being so 'egotistical' and all. lol
"Space is piteously unforgiving of mistakes"- Arthur C. Clarke
The orbiter had an onboard data recorder from its early days that recorded a lot of things on a separate set of sensors that was not relayed to Mission Control. It actually revealed that immediately after the foam strike the region behind panel 8 and 9 experienced a bit of heat as the Shuttle got into orbit. Then during re-entry, not only did it detect the left wing heating up, 17 out of 19 sensors on the left leading edge were gone before the Shuttle even crossed the California coast. The left landing gear door was being melted in the plasma. It indicated that within 13 sec of the plasma finally breaking through the exposed left wing spar, it widened that hole to 5 inches and ate away the entire spar beam soon enough. It then went on to destroy the wires near the landing gear wheel bay, broke into that, also melted the trusses beams that kept the left wing supported, causing it to warp shape, which was when the first odd drag and yaw effects were seen. It then heated the landing gear strut and probably destroyed the tire pressure sensors. Had that data had been relayed as well, the moment they began reentry, they would have known they were done for. The number of sensors and failures were far more than what Mission control was seeing. One of those bright flash debris on this video was a big chunk of wing, maybe 190 lbs!
The weird thing is that the air up there is so thin the crew might have never felt a thing even if the wing FELL off entirely until they got into denser air. Also the Atlantis commander of STS 39 I think who risked a similar issue said that he was watching the trim for asymmetry and if he saw the tell tale signs, he had about 60 sec left to tell mission control what he thought about their analysis.
How thin the air is up there is often overlooked - agree fully - there was essentially a blowtorch entering the wing, enlarging the hole, melting wiring, lines, structure - but the blowtorch was extremely weak, close to a vacuum - hence it was unnoticeable in the early stages, and the reaction control thrusters could easily compensate.
It is sad that this was so preventable. The only risk a rescue mission would involve would have been the launch. They could have inspected the damage in orbit, and brought spare parts (leading edge CC) on the rescue shuttle, so Columbia was practically a guaranteed safe return for all astronauts, even if something happened to the rescue shuttle on launch.
The rarefied upper atmosphere during the most intense heating also meant that the alternate plan of freezing water into ice blocks, using makeshift thermal protection, (and maybe avoiding left-wing rolls to some degree) would have at least given the astronauts some chance at a safe return. Columbia did everything she could to get these astronauts home safely, and managed to maintain stable flight through a lot of the re-entry.
May these brave souls rest in peace 🙏
0:17 "wow! Look at that red octogon" AHAHAHAH that kid is a legend
nick davis lmao 💀😂
I didnt even here that lol😆 planet woah or planet lookthengo
That kid is 18 years older now.
That's a stop sign, at first I didn't know what it was.
@@Hexnilium No way he is 18! 2003 was 18 years ago, I was born in 2003 and I am 18. I was a baby. This guy is probably in his late 20s or smth.
I hate when I have to record something and I miss out seeing it with my own eyes but in your case you made a great sacrifice!
Wow! I've never seen this before. Can only imagine what you thought, felt when Columbia was lost a minutes later.
I got chills from their words as they commented on this. They had no idea how true, and heart wrenching, their words were. Thank you for sharing this historic piece of evidence so we may more clearly honor the lives that were lost. ❤️😢
Especially
"Looks like it's flipping all over the place!"
"A big fireball!"
"It's going so fast"
"They're in Texas now"
All I can say is God bless those people. Thanks for sharing with the world. We all need a dose of reality to help us understand, sometimes...
When he says "seems to be flipping around all over the place" - imagine the terror and absolutely horrific chaos happening in these moments.
Glad you got this video. Also sad this exists.
Amazing video. Thank you. This was such an incredibly sad day.
WOW!!! Your video is one of the best ones taken of the first seconds of the break up. Just incredible. Thank you for posting this.
You are a bloody legend for filming this & for knowing what you are talking about
Your knowledge of the system is very impressive. You nailed the speed etc. Incredible footage. Thanks for sharing!!
I watched it fly overhead that morning in the San Francisco bay area. Stood in my driveway and waiting for it before heading to work. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but just a few minutes later I was listening to the news in my truck and heard that something went wrong. My heart just sank.
No, it was not "flipping over"...
That live comment by my friend was simply his perception through a shaky unsteady binocular view.
Everything for the crew was normal until about two minutes after my video ends. Commander Husband's communications were calm and told of no issues up to that point. Then the orbiter lost attitude and quikly broke up.
Read the CAIB final report. It's ALL there.
Thanks for the comment, but the shuttle simply was not flipping whatsoever
How long did it take you to realized what exactly you had captured?
It wasn't flipping over but by this point, the damage was already well under way and the wing was experiencing serious structural erosion. That's why it was unusually visible and leaving streaks behind it.
The first abnormal sensor reading occurred 08:48 but only recorded on a data recorder and not transmitted to ground at the time and by 08:53, observers were reporting visible debris and an unusually bright glow around the orbiter as well as bright streaks being left in it's trail. It crossed into Nevada airspace at 08:54:25. Over the next 4 minutes, 19 abnormal flashes were observed before the crew reported anomalous sensor readings and not long after that we all know what happened :-(
The orbiter definitely wasn't out of control in your video but it was certainly undergoing severe damage which the autopilot was compensating for as best it could but within a few minutes, the damage was too massive to remain in controlled flight.
I think the thing that strikes me about this video is that many people on the ground knew something was wrong before the crew did. The only positive thing I can say is at least they weren't able to agonise over their impending fate for significant amount of time but it's a small mercy.
Pin your comment please so others can see it
Replying to a 10 year old comment, hope youre doing well in this pandemic
@@breastmilkgaming we're all doing the best we can
Thanks for the video! Amazing you were able to hang on to the shuttle for such a long time.. Must have been magical watching it live!
I missed work and was sick in bed while be watching this on live TV broadcast. I realized immediately something was wrong when I saw the trail of flaming debris. I cried all day... those poor people..😟😢😭 God bless them✝️♥️🥀
😥
The whole world cried that day.
This video provides an insightful perspective. Thank you for posting it.
such a lovely yet tragic video, the love of science and space exploration dimmed due to this tragedy. RIP
My heart sinks everytime I see a home video of the reentry. God rest their poor souls !!!
How many are there?
Seeing that for the first time was something else. Thank you.
Amazing and hard to believe that ship is cruising at 17500 mph.... that's over 5 miles per second !!!
Wew
Great footage. I remember dropping my son off for a school event (Houston) and seeing Columbia break apart as I was leaving the parking lot. I immediately knew what happened, nothing on the radio but as I got home 20 min. later the first reports were coming in on television. It just made you feel sick to understand what was happening.
It's strange that you were watching 7 ppl dying in this video. So sad.
And those 7 people had no idea at this exact point, even a few minutes later their only warning was some unusual sensor readings. The actual time between them being aware something might be amiss and total loss of control was so quick that the commander got cut off mid word while discussing sensor readings.
@@ValleyRC No they didn't, NASA just didn't release the full footage/audio for obvious reasons.
@@nicholasrancourt4540 No they didn't what?
@@nicholasrancourt4540 If you're implying the voice comms DIDN'T cut off at that point then you're deluded because there's multiple amatuer videos of the shuttle breaking up subsequently. People on the ground knew what was happening before mission control did.
There was a live broadcast from mission control when this happend. Do you think they were just "pretending" to try and reestablish contact?
How did they manage to pull that off in real time?
There was less than a second between loss of signal and loss of all electrical power due to the shuttle being torn apart. Voice comms were impossible beyond this point either internally or to ground.
@@ValleyRC Dude, they obviously have video of part of the event. You can see the video footage out there from inside, and it cuts out before anything happens. That means they have footage of the astronauts dying.
It's chilling to realize that you captured the beginning of it, I think that part of the wing coming off and then it exploded over Texas.
nomie1961.......A fantastic video.... what an recorded piece of history here....thank you guys....so very much !!!
That was incredible footage. God Bless the Crew Members.
The two shuttle disasters of my time I got to experienced live. The Challenger explosion as a kids watching live because my second grade teacher was a runner up to be chosen for the flight. Columbia 17 years later while working on a Saturday just south of Houston I looked up and watched something disintegrating as it streaked across the sky. At the end of that era I did get to see the shuttle Discovery being flown on the back of a 747 just above building tops on its way to California from Houston.
I saw them both live too.
I was home sick from school and watched the Challenger explosion on TV in my living room; then I was watching CNN the morning Columbia had its issues.
I never saw this video before. It’s actually amazing it held together for as long as it did while shedding parts. Very sad.
I wrote to nasa as a kid in the 90s and got a huge packet with shuttle info and the pictures of the astronauts all personally autographed. Had one of the guys on the Columbia in it. Treasure that pic.
" Their in Texas right now"
Those last words they spoke gave me chills. That morning I was in Dominguez unit state jail San Antonio Texas. One guy who had been out in the weights area that morning by himself was in the dorm talkin about how there was a bright light out there and he couldn't tell what it was and so on and so on. Then we turn on the TV and on the news they're talking about how the space shuttle had disintegrated Over Texas. We all looked at each other and automatically knew what this guy was telling us was true and we knew what happened. God bless those people and their families. Amen
Wow! Outstanding video. Thanks for sharing. I was in Florida at the time. We were all waiting for the sonic boom that never came. Incredibly sad day.
NASA had a glowing pre operation report when the Space Shuttle project was on the drawing boards. Not only was it incredibly safer than it was in reality but NASA hoped it would eventually be a weekly event to see this happen. A five ship fleet could only max out 4 launches a year in reality. Terrible.
@@martintheiss743 there was actually only at max 4 orbiters at once, the fleet first consisted of Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis, after Challenger was lost they replaced it with Endeavor bringing it back up to 4, after Columbia was lost it wasn’t replaced so for the last of the program there was only 3 in the fleet
RIP to all who've died during space trips and to their families! God bless.
The father and his children sharing this moment in history is just such an amazing feeling.... Kudos to them. Don't get me wrong, obviously this turned tragic and I'm sorry for the lost lives. God bless us all.
@Gigachad_Balls I really hope you are not a parent, if not.... please do not have any.
@Chadam_Gensen never have children.
That’s gut wrenching.. I wonder if this was one of the first videos that showed the shuttle starting to fall apart. Especially since it broke up over Texas.. this shows chunks of debris falling off when they went over Arizona.
Chilling.
You can see the beginning of the first piece come off of Colombia.... SAD....
Idk why the algorithm took so long to show me this but I’m glad it did. Rest easy brave souls.
Wow!!!! That was the MOST awesome video I've ever seen,thanks for sharing
"Ice, maybe?"
"Nope, just pleeces of plasma..."
Pieces of orbiter
Decent theory, but the crew cabin video "stops" well before my taping of the event even began. The cabin video ends while Columbia was over the Pacific well west of the California coast.
I think NASA edited the video as to not make public the astronauts true final moments.
@@josephgianakos3337 I would pay a small fortune to see the whole video
So it started falling apart way before it was over Texas.
They found a tile near the California /Nevada border .
Steve Ward Damn!
The big chunk that came off was probably the wing, which had a gaping hole on its front edge. The hole was created at launch, when a piece of foam hit it at high velocity.
A tile or 2 from the wing maybe. once the wing came off the shuttle disinegrated., that happened over Texas but no doubt those astronauts knew something was terribly wrong as this was filmed.
@@bindlepig8064 According to Wikipedia, they could not see the wing, and did not have all the information available to mission control. Their first indication that something was wrong would have been when a large piece of thermal tile was blown off the spaceship, which would have probably caused a thud. Then the hydraulic pressure alarm sounded around 30 seconds before tragedy struck, and it would have been the moment the crew would have known that they were out of control.
This is historic footage, future generations will look at this to study
Thank you for the upload. Very interesting.
RIP Columbia crew
RIP
Rick Husband
(1957-2003)
William C. McCool
(1961-2003)
Michael P. Anderson
(1959-2003)
Kalpana Chawla
(1962-2003)
David M. Brown
(1956-2003)
Laurel Clark
(1961-2003)
and
Ilan Ramon
(1954-2003)
Since this video was posted, has anyone read, seen or heard any credible determination as to what debris was most likely shed from the shuttle during that pass? Has NASA estimated where that debris might have reached the earth if it did not burn up? Just wondering how much debris will continue to be found in the years to come that will more fully document how the breakup took place. Thanks for posting the video.
+Robin Duggan The orbiter was at about 120,000 ft. when it broke up. All the debris made it to the ground, 80,000 pieces were recovered of all sizes. Many things made it to the ground un-burned depending on their storage area, their place on the orbiter and their mass.
+Robin Duggan Columbia was at still well over 200,000 ft when this video was taken, and had been seen shedding debris since it passed over the California coast. Houston was aware of a problem, beginning with the loss of multiple, unrelated system sensors on the left wing. It would seem likely that the burning debris seen in this video was a section of tiles from the leading edge / underside of the left wing, if not a portion of the wing itself, which may not have survived reentry.
Positivist Nullifidian You are right. Not everything survived. Structure was burning early. Remember though, there are no tiles on the leading edge.
Thank you for reminding me ... the RCC, of course, had been compromised! Any tiles breaking away would have come from the wing's underside. Peace.
+Robin Duggan The break-up has been well explained ...The leading edge of the left -wing was pierced by a piece of foam insulation ( impact speed estimated to be around 500 MPH based on experiments ) . When the shuttle re-entered hot gasses entered the wing spar area, heating the interior of the wing and slowly melting the aluminum structure of wing .... I remember a tile was discovered just inside the California /Nevada state line ....Who knows what that big chunk was that was easily visible in the vid but I think by that time that poor crew must have known they'd be lucky to see home again ......The video that shows the crew all calm and happy is falsely Titled ;....It is not just before the break-up of the structure begins ...That vid ends while they are still over the Pacific and haven't even passed over the California coast ......
Thank God for camcorders, your iPhone could never get a video like this
and it would be vertical
This VHS video from 18 years ago is better quality than most of the videos posted on RUclips.
"Right into the Sunset" . Godspeed Columbia!
You must have been devastated when you found out about the tragedy of those seven American heroes who lost their lives not long after you shot this. May they rest in peace- we will never forget them.
Thank you for posting.
Wow that has to choke you up when he said they're in Texas now and the video fades out..
Yea big time. Very sad
Roy Rogers the shuttle dissembled at 8:59 A.M. but the camera says 6:53 A.M. so not sure what’s the deal there
I cried
@@timothyprice3264 Likely partly to do with differing time zones.
Chris Graham damn from that far?? That’s insane!
3:25 the irony of this comment 18 years later where everyone has their phone out to record everything & can't be in the moment. However, thank you for being the one stuck in the camera.
He said it looks like it's flipping over, then the other one said it's not flippin. It actually was. How eerie.
Wrong. Actually wasn't flipping. Just yet another coincidence. The flipping came a short time later.
@@Jeremy_the_bot yup. I agree now. Watched other videos, and you're right.
So that piece that broke off was long before the total failure... Did they know about that happening on the shuttle at the time, or did they think everything was going fine until they were over Texas? I was 9 when this happened. It still breaks my heart that those amazing people died doing something I could only ever dream of. Great camera work by the way, thank you. I have never seen this footage before but I'm glad you have it.
Wow, so you guys have the only known recording of the actual explosion of Columbia. That's insane. I had wondered if anyone had it.
Columbia disintegrated about 2 minutes after it disappeared on this video so it's not THE explosion. What is visible is one of the debris coming off from the left wing as at this point it was already being penetrated by the plasma around it.
There's no real explosion per se. It disintegrated, and probably had smaller explosions from the hypergolic propellants, but they wouldn't be seen very well from terra firma.
Maikel SZ Do you have a link to the AH-64 footage?
That's the shuttle coming apart.
It’s possible that could have been a landing gear door, after the super heated plasma coming in the hole in the wing root caused the tire to heat, expand, and explode.
The kid being a smart aleck at the beginning (“wow, look at that red octagon!”) always gets me haha. I’ve seen this video many times, and I’m always struck by how the whole interaction is just so…normal. The vibe is so laid back and cozy. Not at all like the disaster that was about to unfold.
Amazing, amazing video. Truly historic and incredibly sad.
i was 18 when this happened. was a very sad day to see the loss of the 7 astronauts so close from home.
Wow so awesome, have to appreciate things like that . I once saw a space shuttle orbiting earth 🌎 at night personally I loved it . What you video taped is awesome thanks for doing it
Great Video. Im from Chicago but was living in Tucson for a year and remember it. Sad news but at least you saw footage and stuff that is real. RIP Columbia
What a gem of video!
Actually a decent video on RUclips for a change!! Great stuff guys! Sad but great stuff
"There's 7 people in that thing" At first it sounded like joy, then it became a sad fact. RIP
They recorded the beginning of wing melting
Best video yet I've seen on this so far great job guys early bird gets the worm 👍
I like how you show the borderlines! It makes it even more interesting.👍🏼 This is a part of history. The last comment in the video was said with excitement: “They’re in Texas right now.” 😞
I love the commentary in this video! All valid points being made by each person.
I especially loved the part where his friend says “off into the sunset” while looking eastward at almost 7am.
Chilling footage, can't imagine the shock when you heard the news of it's fate shorty after you filmed this.
I saw a race plane crash into the stands at the Reno Air Races killing at least 16 people, so I know exactly how you felt when you got the news. Shear excitement turns into complete and total sadness. Thanks for the great upload!
Sorry you had to witness such a disaster of human life. Looks horrific even on shaky video. I can't imagine it in real life
I "Like" that this video has documented a historic event. Thank you for posting.
i mean, not really a historic event. a historic event is like ww2/911 ect, not a major EF up by NASA
Wow - i can't believe i found this. It is thrilling. Thank you. Good one.
This is almost right up there with the Zapruder film. Right place at the right time.
These are among the last people to have seen those astronauts alive. That 'they're in Texas right now' right before it fades to black was chilling...
This footage is incredible - I can't believe I haven't seen it until now!!! :O
Its historical value is Zapruder-esque.
Good comparison.
again this video soo important cause they never found all the pieces of wreck and perfect example why is this video cause it shows that pieces was falling off miles and miles away from where they found the less of it
I've been looking for this!
Never saw this before. Great job with the camera. Had no idea you were recording history. Perhaps even an important piece of footage for the investigation.
"That fireball was cool!"
I bet the people onboard didn't think so.
+Reality check You need meds
+zudemaster You must be new to the internet.
+Reality check damn trolling won't even work and will not help or support the loss of life in this spacecraft.
+Michigander1969 I can't believe how many people are buying into his trolling. LOL
+dynelol The people on board didn't know what to think until NASA told them of all the flight wing integrity errors there were. But by then it was too late
When he said 14,000 mph it shocked me thats how fast they are..they will certainly disintegrate 🥺😔 Rip to all 7 astronauts
It'd be like flying London to New York in about 10 minutes
@@visionist7 My God 😔
You could see the "off center" bright stream from the wing. I've seen videos that show a much brighter blob break off and slowly back away from the Shuttle.
I fear the crew would have had to notice that, it would have been above the ship and the light would flooded the cockpit through the two over head windows (the same windows that Lauren Clark briefly video taped through about 10 mins before the breakup and before anything was clearly amiss). The first direct warning from the system was the warning about the left main gear tire pressure. At that point the thought would be "left tire, left wing got hit by foam".
Pretty sure you can almost see that thought on Cain's face when MACS informs him that he had just lost hydraulic sensors on the left side of the ship.
It was criminal that NASA did not have the crew do some kind of EVA to take a look. Once you see the gaping hole in the leading edge, you immediately put the ship into endurance mode to conserve consumables. Columbia had consumables for a 14 day mission and that easily could have been stretched out to 30 days (per NASA). Then you get Atlantis out to the pad, launch and rescue the crew.
The ionization that Clark is filming is coming from over the nose during re-entry. You can't see the wing at all from the cockpit or the aerodynamic affects of re-entry. All of your comments make sense but in this case it is easier said then done.
I am wondering would the MCC have been able to attempt a splash down with the help of that speed-breaker chute the moment they know about the drop in landing gear tire pressure. Certainly this is my wild imagination.
Maharoof Veradiyil No, the drag chute is not designed for that. It's basically akin to the chute that a NHRA Dragster pops out to stop the car.
@@furaham the shuttle would have been going too fast to deploy a chute.
"Pretty sure you can almost see that thought on Cain's face when MACS informs him that he had just lost hydraulic sensors on the left side of the ship"
And while he is not to "blame" for a complex series of events on a profoundly complex and dangerous machine, there were certainly people at NASA responsible for the decision making process. I still recall the idiot CNN "expert" who repeated uncritically that NASA engineers were looking at that foam strike "simply because the fight was going so perfectly that they had nothing better to do." We know that was a lie and we know that a number of NASA engineers where very alarmed but told not to rock the boat
how long after this did you find out that it had broken up?
Amazing the software and control surfaces held it on course whilst pieces were flying off at Mach 20