So I went downstairs to watch it as it was being shown on the public access channel on my cable system. Everything looked normal at Mission Control and the shuttle was being tracked across the Pacific, over California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and then Texas. About 9AM, the tracking map that showed at Mission Control appeared to have been frozen and the forward progress of the shuttle stopped being shown.
At the time, I thought nothing of it, having rarely seen a landing televised. I expected the cameras to shift to Florida to show the landing itself. But as the minutes ticked on past 9AM, something just didn't seem right. Yet there was no visible alarm being shown at NASA Mission Control so I figured things were under control. About 9:05, I noticed that NASA was attempting to contact the shuttle through UHF. Again, I thought nothing of it, knowing that it is common for re-entering spacecraft to temporarily lose communications.
Suddenly I noticed that it was 9:11, only five minutes before the scheduled landing and the cameras still showed the workers at Mission control somberly monitoring their instruments and attempting to contact the spacecraft. Those people there are cool as cucumbers, I had no idea whatsoever that this was anything but a routine event, but it just didn't feel right that here it was, a few minutes before landing and no communication was yet established.
At that time, I thought of running to the computer to post here my concerns. But I figured I would just look like a fool. When the time of landing arrived, 9:16, and there was still no signs of communication, I became very puzzled. This was definitely not right, even though the folks at Mission Control didn't seem to be getting excited, it was downright quiet in that room. Out of curiosity I flipped over to FoxNews and saw the NEWS ALERT: NASA LOSES CONTACT WITH SHUTTLE.
At that moment, chills ran down my spine. I just knew that something catastrophic had happened. It was so bizzarre. Realize that I had no intention of watching this landing and in fact, didn't even know of a shuttle landing until seeing this thread. What a very weird coincidence that the one time I sit down to watch a shuttle landing, this happens.
Anyway, I just thought I'd post my thoughts on this very surreal morning. It really brings me back to the morning of January 28, 1986. Even the photos of the Columbia crew look eerily similar to the photos of the 1986 crew from Challenger.
May their souls rest in peace.
Not a good day for the USA. But I am curious nevertheless. Did you only sit down one time to watch the Oakland Raiders play football?