HomeColumbia – Final Voyage is the most comprehensive book about the final mission of Columbia STS-107 to date. I have known the author Phil Chien since I had started working shuttle missions as a flight surgeon in 1998. He was always there asking the shuttle crew questions when they were at the Cape for their Terminal Count Down Tests and press conferences just prior to launch. I was always impressed with his very insightful questions and deep grasp of technical issues. As I have come to know him more, I am profoundly impressed with his encyclopedic knowledge of human spaceflight. I can think of no more dedicated journalist to write this book. He had come to know the STS-107 crew very well in the long period prior to launch. He was one of a handful of journalists who was at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center on February 1, 2003, and like all of us felt the visceral emotion as the clock ticked down to landing time and then started counting up. This book has captured the essence of human spaceflight and the intricacies of space shuttle operations. The companion CD-ROM will provide additional historical references for countless space aficionados, including myself.
Phil has been able to explain the myriad of science experiments on this flight so that even I can understand them. The book also presents a very well documented analysis of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The author has also crafted the story behind the story concerning how politics is intertwined with NASA. More importantly, he has captured the essence of the human spirit—of the crew, the families and friends, and the people who really make it happen behind the scenes, in training, science support, and launch and Mission Control. As we all come to deal with the aftermath of the triumph and tragedy of Columbia’s final flight, this wonderful book will serve as a guidebook for us to learn from the past and enable the future.
Jonathan Clark is a flight surgeon at the Johnson Space Center. His wife Laurel was one of the STS-107 Columbia astronauts.