I had seen 2 pre-dawn shuttle re-entries before. They were bright like a highway flare as the orbiter crossed the sky in less than 10 minutes. Watched from my backyard in San Jose under clear skies those times. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 2/20
This time (Feb 1, 2003) there was thick fog so I couldn't just watch the shuttle re-entry from home. I planned ahead and drove to a mountaintop. This became the reason why San Jose CA was the only place west of Texas where Columbia eyewitnesses met each other that morning. 3/20
Don said he and others there were surprised about the trail Columbia was leaving behind it. It turned out to be a smoke trail - but none of us were willing to even think of that at the time. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 5/20
As Columbia went out of view behind trees for Don, I broke out of the fog on Mt Hamilton Rd. My turn to describe the view... I saw the trail behind it billowing and counter-rotating as one sees behind aircraft wingtips. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 6/20
I knew it was different from the previous two shuttle re-entries I had seen. Previous ones were bright red like a highway flare, with a clear meteor streak behind them. This time it was pink, with billowing cloud behind it. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 7/20
At a turnout on Mt Hamilton Rd, a bunch of us stopped to talk, unaware Columbia was breaking up over Texas, or that one of the group, Rick Baldridge, got video which would be entered into evidence in the crash investigation. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 8/20
We all said something was different and strange compared to previous shuttle re-entries. That was the first time I said it almost looked like smoke, but didn't want to imply something was wrong. We were all still in denial. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 9/20
I got home during the hour it took for the media to piece together that the strange contrail sighted over Dallas was Columbia breaking up. I turned on CNN and watched @MilesOBrien expertly handle the chaotic unfolding story. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 12/20
@milesobrien I heard from Rick Baldridge that after he learned what happened to Columbia, he played back his telescope video and realized it captured 5 pieces of debris departing Columbia. He tried to call NASA but lines were jammed. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 13/20
@milesobrien Rick said he gave a copy of his video to CNN. When they aired it, NASA called him. The crash investigation cited his video as documenting debris-shedding events 1 through 5. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 14/20
@milesobrien NASA's Columbia Accident Investigation Board posted public updates with much more info about the space shuttle than the public usually had access to. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 15/20 
@milesobrien Initially, many of us thought the investigation might never find the cause because evidence was likely too badly burned. Shuttle data recorders were not armored like airliners because they couldn't survive a re-entry accident. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 16/20
@milesobrien Some of us West Coast eyewitnesses thought the early debris might have clues to the cause. NASA asked the public to help. We started plotting out grid search areas and scouting out conditions for Columbia debris searches. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 17/20
@milesobrien Such a search was probably hopeless - needle in hundreds-of-miles-long haystack. Fortunately, against all odds Columbia's data recorder was found intact on a muddy hillside in eastern Texas. The investigation found the cause. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 18/20
@milesobrien CAIB determined Columbia #STS107 was fatally damaged by a debris strike on launch. #NASA missed multiple opportunities to check on it while there was time to launch another shuttle for rescue. history.nasa.gov/columbia/CAIB.… #ColumbiaDisaster #space #history 19/20
@milesobrien We hosted Columbia eyewitness meetings in San Jose in 2004 & 2005, attended from as far as Dallas + NASA staff from Houston. All of us found that going to watch caused a mourning effect, though none of us knew the astronauts. #ColumbiaDisaster #STS107 #NASA #space #history 20/20
