Max-q is a NASA term describing the point in the launch - or re-entry - of a vehicle at which it is under the most stress from dynamic forces. The Columbia was at such a point - at least from thermal stress - when it was lost yesterday.
At about 9:30 Saturday morning The Lad called my cell phone to tell me the Columbia had disintegrated over Texas. I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Not figuratively. Literally. Punched in the gut.
As we have done so often in times of stress - personal Max-q - The Lad and I got together:
"Lunch?"
"Sure."
"Southside at noon?"
"See you there."
One of the questions we discussed was why this accident has such an impact on the public consciousness?
If seven people had been killed in a small plane accident on Saturday morning in Texas it would have been part of the ticker across the bottom of the Fox, MSNBC, or CNN screens - at least until there was video of the crash site but, unless a celebrity had been on board, the news focus for the weekend would not have been diverted from the President's State of the Union address (which was delivered only last Tuesday night) and the visit of Tony Blair (just this past Thursday).
Perhaps it has to do with the whole business of leaving the Earth. Most of us think that gravity - one of the four primary forces of physics - is a pretty good one. Being stuck to the surface of our planet is just fine, thank you.
Shuttle Program Manager Ron Dittemore was a hero yesterday. Just hours, during NASA'S Max-q, after his worst nightmare had come true he had the presence and the eloquence to explain it during the news conference:
Human space flight is a passion. We understand the risks that are involved in human space flight. We know that these risks are manageable, but we also know that they're serious and can have deadly consequences. When we have an event like today where we lose seven family members, it is devastating to us.
There is an emotional attachment to human space flight. It piques our interest, captures our imagination.
In this age of routine spaceflight, most of us did not know the names of the astronauts.
- Col. Rick Husband,
- Cmdr. William McCool,
- Dr. Kalpana Chawla,
- Capt. David Brown,
- Lt. Col. Michael Anderson,
- Cmdr. Laurel Clark, and
- Col. Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli in space. I got a note from a good friend of mine in Israel which I commend to you on the Letters to Mullings page.
The other subject The Lad and I discussed was how President Bush was going to deal with this. With everything else going on in the world, this was one more enormous event to add to the pressure. As I was quoted in a piece by Richard Stevenson on the NY Times web site:
Rich Galen, a Republican political consultant, said Mr. Bush had shown an ability since Sept. 11 to connect with the American people on an emotional level and mourn with them but still to carry out and explain a determined foreign policy.
"When he does these things, he clearly feels so deeply that people are comforted by the fact that he wears his emotions on his sleeve," Mr. Galen said. "He's been juggling a lot of balls lately, and this is another tragic ball."
The interview on which this was based took place about a half hour before the President's remarks. The President - to the surprise of no one - struck exactly the correct tone during this time of his Administration's Max-q by saying:
"The same Creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth. Yet we can pray that all are safely home".
We might not have known their names, but God, who gives us the strength to get through these Max-q tests, does.
On the Secret Decoder Ring page today: A link to President Reagan's speech after the Challenger disaster and the full poem upon which it was based; a brief discussion of the physics of Max-q; a link to the NY Times article; and a famous photo from space.
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