(Please! Before you form any conclusions do a little investigating and listen to the official NASA audio...read my opinion.)

A Question of Perception

Why I think Commander Husband suspected Columbia had a problem and why NASA misunderstood his last statement

by chris valentine
On April 13, 1970 halfway to the moon, an explosion rocked the command module of Apollo 13. Jim Lovell then relayed the news to Earth with his now famous, calm and collected words "Houston, we've had a problem". Had this/his explosion's origin been in a somewhat different location, those may have been the last words we ever heard from Lovell and the crew of Apollo 13. Had that been the fate of 13 and somehow Lovell's word's been sadly, inexplicably (without some basic examination) poorly misunderstood, mistranslated... forever noted as "unintelligible", lost might have been the revealed quality of composure.. within an Astronaut/a Warrior staring at possible and likely even inevitable death.

Cut to 2003 and the reentry of STS-107. I think the general perception is that the crew was unaware that anything was amiss until Columbia was moments short of breaking up. I don't believe that was the case and a clue to this fact may resides in the audio recordings.

Already riding the unnerving razor's edge of the reentry process, the crew and more importantly, Commander Husband had the foreshadowed knowledge of the foam strike. He and the other crew members had in fact viewed the foam strike via uploaded video days before. What exactly caused the bright flash over Nevada we'll never know ,but based on its luminosity, it could have easily marked a moment for the crew. A moment in which the earlier foam strike video playback suddenly had new and possibly ominous meaning for their survival...maybe a shift when the razor's edge of that reentry process could have felt just that much less forgiving to fault...and that much more life threatening.

I feel quite sure that the flash (from debris 6) lit up the crew cabin (via the rear/top windows of the cabin) with a noticeable flash, and then a minute or so later debris 14 slowly lifted up and behind the shuttle. Again, possibly blaring it's light into the cabin at least to a point of being noticed by the crew. Husband and Chawla had been there before, so these flares or flashes could have been very troubling signs if they were seen. They would have suspected these events were anomalous and if anything is wrong on reentry you’re dancing with the Devil. It is also hard to believe Commander Husband was not fully aware Columbia was experiencing “stress” and specifically on the left side with the elevon setting numbers more than suggesting a battle to maintain proper attitude. Not to mention what we know was an asymmetrical plasma envelope. To assume he wouldn't have some sense/suspicion his left wing/side was a point of concern due to Columbia's readings/possible damage seems counter intuitive...at least to this amateur.

Most people who have followed the details of this story know that Rick Husband's final words at 8:59:32 were "Roger, uh, bu...". His words were cut off as Columbia experienced a communications drop out and shortly there after, Columbia’s break up began. I absolutely believe those were Husband's words! But for me, the last cogent thought, the last complete sentence expressed by Husband happened on his previous call down. Unfortunately, this statement by him received almost no attention by the media or the public...and sadder still is that I believe his words were transcribed incorrectly by NASA.

At 8:58:48 (44 seconds before he said Roger, uh...bu…) it is officially transcribed that Husband said "and uh Hou...". That seems to me an odd transmission for the commander to start a thought in mid sentence, as if he were trying to finish a previous thought. Commander Husband hadn't made a call down for more than 12 minutes prior to this statement based on the audio recordings. I do think this was an odd transmission, but not for the reason I just mentioned. Perhaps "unusual" is the better word to describe it, and I think therein lies the reason Houston then called back "...and we did not copy your last", because Husband's words fell outside of the lexicon for reentry communications. "Unintelligible" is how Husband's "58:48" communication is sometimes described, but in my opinion "unbelievable" was probably closer to the truth.

I arrived home from my trip to videotape Columbia’s reentry around noon on February 1st. I along with my son and my brother watched and listened to the recorded NASA TV broadcast of the reentry. We all heard Husband’s statement and pretty much agreed that his haunting 3 word statement would more than likely be forever attached to this tragedy. Very much like “Go! At throttle up” is attached to the Challenger disaster. A few days later I was very surprised to see his words had been transcribed totally different than what we had heard. The 4 syllable statement was even reduced to just 3.

We can certainly never know for sure, but for me, Husband's words may have represented and still would represent an acknowledgment that he was aware they had (or might have) a problem...or maybe just an uncomfortable quip by a concerned CMD Husband. I will guess that had the crew cabin videotape survived to a point after some of the major debris events occurred, a much less jovial mood would have been apparent with the crew members.

So what do I hear Husband say? Well I don’t hear him say- "and uh Hou..." I hear him say- "feelin' the heat". That, I feel was his and STS-107's equivalent to Apollo 13’s "Houston, we've had a problem". Absolutely and highly subjective as all of this is, I suspect Husband's brief blurt was a product of him being a proud pilot. That if his "bird" was in trouble…that it may go down. It was going down with him tuned in to the possibility. Perhaps it was a "note" if you will to MCC that he had a sense something was not right despite the good data. That he could tell Columbia was feeling the heat...being adversely/unusually effected. The data does show that Columbia was performing remarkably well, but perhaps he sensed there was a problem. Maybe it was a statement for the record...not for any temperature condition in the cabin (we know cabin temperatures were normal), but rather for his pilot's sense of the overall reentry conditions.

Sadly, I feel that lost now, is the correct and possibly more courageous perception of the final minutes for this crew and their mission, in large part due to this misunderstanding...the "mishearing" of Husband. Unequivocally, I do not view this as any type of cover-up, but just an honest mistake that needs to be looked at, if simply for history's sake. Some people question me on the value of raising this issue even if I'm right. If I'm right, Husband said what he said for some reason.

Is anyone out there in professional voice/audio analysis? Take the case!

 

THE AUDIO FILES...You be the judge

Here is the audio flight loop beginning at 8:58:39. Again, the quote in question occurs at 8:58:48 or 9 seconds after play starts. I ran the audio out to loss of signal at 8:59:32, but removed some silent periods. To put this audio into better context, please download my Real-time reentry video.

To make it easier (not scientific) here is the quote in question. I have it repeated 9 times. 3 times at normal speed, 3 at 115% speed and 3 at 85% speed. The last run at each speed has the upper and lower frequencies taken down, so that the mid-range is clearer... the voice range.

The commander's :58:48 transmission, tempo slowed/pitch held/repeated 5 times HERE

Here is the complete STS 107 audio flight loop from February 1 2003 that was available at NASA.gov for a time after the accident. (audio begins 30 minutes before break-up...the audio in question begins at 27 minutes and 17 seconds elapsed time) Currently there is only a condensed file of the audio loop available online from NASA. (see NASA link below)

Here is every call down from Columbia that morning. There are considerable time gaps between most of these bites...12 minutes of silence from Columbia before the "and uh Hou.../feelin' the heat" call.

Here are the times Husband used the words "houston" or "and houston" juxtaposed to the quote in question (sequence repeated 3 times)

Here are the "houstons"/"and houstons"/"and uh hou..." juxtaposed in a different way

Here is the sound bite in question after hiss reduction and a noise reduction profile applied (Adobe Audition)

THIS is a video clip from an independent film. This video clip was given to filmmaker Mike Welt by NASA as is. Some interesting audio editing has been done by someone at NASA.

 

NASA official recordings- http://www.nasa.gov/columbia/foia/ (wav./Netshow/RealAudio)...about 2/3rds down the page