New Book Hails Lost Columbia Shuttle Astronauts

CAPE CANAVERAL, FL - A couple days into Columbia's final mission, freelance writer Philip Chien realized only a handful of reporters were still covering the science being performed by the shuttle's crew of seven astronauts.

Chien, who lives on Merritt Island, watched reporters flock to Kennedy Space Center from all over the world to watch Columbia launch into orbit Jan. 16, 2003. Then, he watched the media rush back here and to Johnson Space Center after the orbiter broke up 16 days later during re-entry.

Journalists penned thousands upon thousands of words about the fateful events during Columbia's launch, the questionable decision-making in Houston during the flight and the fatal burn-through of the orbiter's heat-shield in the atmosphere.

Chien did not see or read much about the personalities of the astronauts or the work they had accomplished in orbit. So, Chien decided he would try to tell that story himself.

The result is the newly released book, Columbia: Final Voyage, an account that deals sparingly with the shuttle accident and the details of its investigation but instead focuses on the people behind the mission and the legacy of their work.

"The whole object of the book is to take the two-dimensional bios and make them into three-dimensional people," said Chien, who will talk tonight at Brevard Community College's Planetarium about the new book and the Columbia mission.

Such astronaut profiles are a big part Chien's journalistic niche to begin with. As a freelance journalist who's seen more than 100 shuttle launches, Chien usually pens feature stories about individual astronauts for the crew members' hometown newspapers.

In this case, Chien determined the best way to tell the story of the Columbia astronauts and their mission was to go back over all of the science experiments they were working on during the 16-day flight.

Chien began cataloging all of the historical data and information he could about the seven members of the crew and the experiment roster for Columbia's flight.

"This is the legacy that is most important for the astronauts," Chien said. "They gave their lives for the science."

The research, when combined with interviews with family, colleagues and scientists, results in what may be the most detailed account that will ever be written about what happened in space during the mission.

"This is an important book on the shuttle," Chien said, because it covers ground not explored by others post-disaster. "I hope that 20 or 30 years from now, people are still going to be referring to this book when they talk about the mission."

The research and writing took nearly three years. The book came out Feb. 1, and Chien said he has gotten positive reviews from astronauts' relatives and others who've read it.

The biggest surprise during his research?

"The biggest thing is the science that's still being performed," Chien said.

Experiments and recorded data survived the violent re-entry accident and were recovered by the extensive search for debris in Texas.

Still more data had been beamed back to Earth during the mission.

There is usable information for scientists and papers have appeared in peer-reviewed journals based on research performed by the Columbia crew.

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• Special Report: The STS-107 Columbia Disaster
• STS-107: The Unfinished Mission