![]() Leinbach and others at NASA would also witness the best of the human spirit during the process. He’d also help examine the wreckage to determine what caused the fatal ending. He would help run the mammoth effort to find the crew’s remains and collect the tens of thousands of pieces of the shuttle that rained on Texas and Louisiana as it broke apart during its descent. That February morning and the months that followed would be some of the most tense, most heartbreaking and most fulfilling of Leinbach’s 27-year career with NASA. Leinbach (Arch ’76, Engr ’81) and writer Jonathan Ward this January released the book Bringing Columbia Home to mark the 15th anniversary of the loss of the Columbia and its seven astronauts. What happened to the Columbia and his friends? The runway countdown clock ticked off its last seconds. Over loudspeakers, he could hear Mission Control in Houston repeatedly call Columbia’s crew: It should be bursting through the Florida sky around 9:12 with two thunderous claps-the telltale double sonic booms. 1, 2003, his only job was to welcome them home.Īn hour earlier, he’d listened as the Columbia re-entered the earth’s atmosphere on time with no problems. Days earlier, he’d been the one to give the “Go!” that shot the space shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew into orbit. This was the best part of being a NASA launch director at the Kennedy Space Center. Mike Leinbach stood on the runway at 9 a.m., waiting for his crew to return. Mike Leinbach (Arch ’76, Engr ’81) was a launch director at the Kennedy Space Center.
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