NASA Flight Director Braces for Return to Space
July 7, 2005 — -- When LeRoy Cain realized the space shuttle Columbia and its crew would not be coming home, a single tear slipped down his cheek as he paused, straightened his shoulders and issued one command: "Lock the doors." That started the process to preserve evidence for the investigation into what destroyed Columbia during its return to Earth 2½ years ago.
Cain was the "ascent and entry" flight director for STS 107, Columbia's tragic last mission. He and his team were puzzled when sensors started failing during the shuttles descent to Earth. They had never seen anything like that before, and as astronaut Charlie Hobaugh repeatedly tried to regain communications with the crew of Columbia, the extent of the puzzle became tragically clear when an off-duty flight controller phoned the control room to describe Columbia's breakup over Texas.
Cain has grieved for the loss of his friends on Columbia and wrestled with his conscience over his team's missed opportunities to discover if Columbia was damaged.
He will be the launch and landing flight director for NASA's "Return to Flight" mission, STS 114, scheduled to launch as early as next week. He had accepted the assignment for STS 114 before Columbia's accident. But the loss of Columbia made him question his desire to continue his work with the shuttle program.
Reconciled by Faith
"For me there was a point in the past two years when I had to establish whether or not I was still going to be a part of this business or not," said Cain. "I never doubted that I wanted to be, but it was necessary for me to think about my own motivations."
His faith helped him through the painful process of grieving for his friends and trying to understand how NASA had failed to detect what would lead to the tragic Columbia accident. A lengthy investigation found that a piece of insulating foam broke off during Columbia's launch and punctured the craft's wing. Superhot gas entered the gap and melted the wing from the inside, causing Columbia to break apart high above Texas.
"I don't know how you get through certain things in life? Is Columbia one of those things? For a lot of people, sure, it would be," said Cain. "My faith was extremely important for me and my family in terms of getting to the point where we are now and being able to reconcile with the accident."
The flight controllers and flight directors in mission control will know much more about the space shuttle Discovery during its flight than they ever knew about Columbia.
Hundreds of sensors to detect temperature changes and impact are installed on the shuttles wings. More than 120 cameras will capture visual records of the shuttle and its external tank during the launch.
Cain says they will know just what is happening to Discovery on this mission.
"We are going to have volumes of data, so with regards to the thermal protection system, I am going to know a lot more about Discovery than I knew about Columbia. We are smarter about wiring, we are smarter about aircraft aging issues."
Never Routine
When the clock starts ticking for the countdown, Cain says the NASA team will be ready. He and his team have trained with repeated simulations, they have drilled, and he says they are prepared for the launch. But he says it will never be a routine 8½ minutes.
"I've had them go right by, and say, where did that 8½ minutes go? I've had others where it seemed like an eternity."
He says he will be painfully aware of the moments during the return of Discovery when Columbia dropped off the map.
"We will all be aware of it."
For Cain, this next shuttle launch is not only about keeping a promise to his friends on Columbia, it is about the next step in space exploration.
"We, as humans, have an innate desire to explore. We need to step up to the plate and safely fly the shuttle again, so that we can successfully complete the assembly of the International Space Station, then we can move on to going back to the moon, and going to Mars."