At least one of the firefighters involved in the search had another connection with the mission - Reynese Ridley helped test the "Urine in Space" educational experiment.
Ridley, a Northern Ute-Shoshone-Bannack American Indian from Idaho, was a firefighter, one of the tens of thousands called upon to search for Columbia debris. Ridley says she didn't set out to become a firefighter "It just kind of happened, there was no plan. I wanted to move out to Missouri [for a job] and I needed the money for a bus ticket."
Ridley with astronaut John Herrington
Ridley traveled with her classmates to Florida to see the STS-107 launch, her first rocket launch. She said "It was exciting, where we come from you don't see a lot. It just made you feel really good inside." She says "It was a neat experience, more the excitement was how loud it is when it launches, you just feel everything shaking. The thoughts of exploring and discovery going on - it's just a unique thought."
Ridley was back at home on February 1, 2003 preparing to go to work. She said, "My mom asked me if that was the shuttle [her experiment was on]. I turned on CNN and told her "That was our shuttle". It was kind of shocking that that happened - really shocking."
Ridley got her call in mid February - was she available to go in the field and help search for the debris from Columbia?" She notes "There were different crews from everywhere. Firefighters from our community went, two crews of 20. We were shipped down to Fort Worth Texas, and from there to Palestine Texas."
For a month Ridley and her teammates lived in tents and a warehouse, working six days a week. She said a typical day involved getting up in the early morning, getting gear ready, packing lunch, finding out which area her team was going to search, and riding a bus to their assigned grid. She said, "We meet up with our crew and the other crews we were working with. We'd line up side-by-side and walk a grid in whatever conditions - swamp, thorns, fences or crops. Just looking around your area."
Ridley says she was successful in spotting pieces in the field, noting "It's one piece of solving the puzzle." She notes "Some days it was easy, some days it was difficult."
Ridley knew three of the people in her crew at the beginning and got to know her other teammates better during their month together. Ridley says on her four days off she'd "Just stay around, relax, get laundry done. Go in town, go shopping. I got to see a little of the area."
She noted "What made it fun was the people who were there, there were so many of us. That's what made it an adventure. We were off in different areas. That's what made it what it was - the people there."
NASA tried to show its appreciation for all of the people involved in the search. Ridley said "They brought entertainment to us in our building, we'd have presentations. The astronauts would come down and meet people. We got to meet them and shook their hands." Overall Ridley said about her experience "It was fun, exciting, sad."
Ridley got to meet fellow Native American, astronaut John Herrington, at the one year anniversary of the accident when she traveled with her classmates to the Kennedy Space Center for a ceremony to honor the Columbia crew.
Ridley was just one of the 30,000 people involved in the Columbia search operations.
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