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.
Published
under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2006 FLORIDA TODAY.
No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written
consent of FLORIDA TODAY.
advertisement
