Bringing Columbia Home

The Untold Story of a Lost Space Shuttle and Her Crew

By: Michael D. Leinbach, Jonathan H. Ward, Robert Crippen - foreward, Eileen Collins - epilogue

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell, Danny Campbell

Length: 10 hrs and 42 mins

Publisher's summary

On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated on reentry before the nation's eyes, and all seven astronauts aboard were lost. Author Mike Leinbach, Launch Director of the space shuttle program at NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center, was a key leader in the search and recovery effort as NASA, FEMA, the FBI, the US Forest Service, and dozens more federal, state, and local agencies combed an area of rural east Texas the size of Rhode Island for every piece of the shuttle and her crew they could find.

Assisted by hundreds of volunteers, it would become the largest ground search operation in US history. For the first time, here is the definitive inside story of the Columbia disaster and recovery and the inspiring message it ultimately holds. In the aftermath of tragedy, people and communities came together to help bring home the remains of the crew and nearly 40 percent of shuttle, an effort that was instrumental in piecing together what happened so the shuttle program could return to flight and complete the International Space Station. Bringing Columbia Home shares the deeply personal stories that emerged as NASA employees looked for lost colleagues, and searchers overcame immense physical, logistical, and emotional challenges and worked together to accomplish the impossible.

©2018 Michael D. Leinbach and Jonathan H. Ward (P)2018 Tantor

Critic reviews

“A gripping account of a fatal tragedy and the impressive and deeply emotional human response that ensued.” (Kirkus)

Loved it!

An amazing story that needed to be told. A great testimony to those who helped in this worthy endeavor.

Columbia

I may listen to this story several times. About the crash of space shuttle Columbia.

A beautiful understanding of forgotten History

Like many wars throughout history, Columbia seems to be forgotten when talking about space travel and the risks it poses. Bringing Columbia Home was a beautifully written and narrated piece of art that taught me more than I ever believed. The lessons learned about complacency and fear of reprisal are staunch reminder of the importance of speaking up.
Absolutely fantastic book if you love space travel, history, or are trying to make yourself a better person/leader.

Great insight to the tragedy

I thought this book was a wonderful experience. The tragedy 20 years ago was laid open and the great extent of the recovery is amazing to hear.

Beautifully told...

The story of Columbia and her family beautifully told. I was very moved by every facet of the story.

Story over narration

This is a compelling story. It is gripping in its accounts of the disaster of Columbia and the amazing aftermath. It is rare for a story that relies on engineering and scientific jargon to be so clear. While the narration was acceptable, it didn't measure up the writing. There was not enough modulation. The epilogue's narration was very good.

A Great Experiemce

I lived in Dallas when this happened and I saw it streak past in the sky. It was difficult to follow the story originally, but this was breathtaking.

After all Texas did for Columbia, and JSC didn't get a shuttle when the program was ended... it's a sad shame. Houston worked hard for every mission and Texas bled and died for NASA during Columbia search/ investigation and we got nothing. This book made me even more angry about that.

A heartfelt telling of the Columbia accident and recovery

I really liked this book. I wasn’t sure what to expect. This book covers the accident and investigation into the loss of Columbia. However the majority of the book is about the people involved in recovering the remains of Columbia and her crew. It’s about the dedication of these people to find out what happened to the orbiter and her crew. I learned a lot from the book about the recovery effort and the fact Columbia to this day continues in her science mission. She was never buried like Challenger.

Anyone with any interest in space flight, engineering or American history should pick this up.

Although some listeners/ readers have commented about a lack of technical details there is good reason. An overly technical book can read like a manual rather than a story. This book dives into the human story and the brilliant snippets of history that will forever make the story of Columbia more than a piece of foam and the resulting breakup. This story is about the people rather than just math behind why Columbia was lost. And trust me, it’s much better that way.

EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO READ THIS BOOK

This is what America is about!
I choked more than 20 times.
I choked most of the time at KSC without reading this book, I am looking forward to go again.