Bold They Rise: The Space Shuttle Early Years, 1972-1986 (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of S) (55 page)

Several astronauts left the office relatively soon after the accident, Ross said, and a stream of others continued to leave for a while afterward. “There were more people that left for various different reasons; some of them for frustration, some of them knowing that the preparations for flight were going to take longer, some of them responding to spouses’ dictates or requests that they leave the program now that they’d actually had an accident.”

Ross discussed his future at
NASA
with his family and admitted to having some uncertainty at first as to what he wanted to do.

I had mixed feelings at first about wanting to continue to take the risk of flying in space, but at the same time, all of the
NASA
crew members on the shuttle were good friends of mine, and I felt that if I were to quit and everybody else were to quit, then they would have lost their lives for no good benefit or progress.

If you reflect back on history, any great undertaking has had losses; you know, wagon trains going across the plains or ships coming across the ocean. I was just watching a
TV
show that said in the 1800s, one out of every six ships that went across . . . the ocean from Europe to here didn’t make it. So there’s risk involved in any type of new endeavor that’s going on. And I got into the program with my eyes wide open, both for the excitement and the adventure of it, but also I felt very strongly that it was important that we do those kinds of things for the future of mankind and for the good of America.

After getting through the shock and getting through the memorial services and all that, even though I was frustrated I wasn’t getting a whole lot to do to help with the recovery effort, I was very determined that I was not going to leave, after talking with the family and getting their agreement, and that I was going to do whatever I could to help us get back to flying as soon as we could and to do it safer.

Sources

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Interviews and Personal Communications

Allen, Joseph P. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 28 January 2003.

Allen, Joseph P. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Washington
DC
, 16 March 2004.

Allen, Joseph P. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Washington
DC
, 18 March 2004.

Allen, Joseph P. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Washington
DC
, 18 November 2004.

Allen, Joseph P. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. McLean
VA
, 18 April 2006.

Bobko, Karol J. “Bo.” Interviewed by Summer Chick Bergen. Houston, 12 February 2002.

Bolden, Charles F. Interviewed by Sandra Johnson. Houston, 6 January 2004.

Bolden, Charles F. Interviewed by Sandra Johnson. Houston, 15 January 2004.

Brand, Vance D. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 25 July 2000.

Brand, Vance D. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 12 April 2002.

Brandenstein, Daniel C. Interviewed by Carol Butler. Kirkland
WA
, 19 January 1999.

Cleave, Mary L. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Washington
DC
, 5 March 2002.

Covey, Richard O. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 1 November 2006.

Covey, Richard O. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 15 November 2006.

Covey, Richard O. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 7 February 2007.

Covey, Richard O. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 28 March 2007.

Crippen, Robert L. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 26 May 2006.

Dunbar, Bonnie J. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 22 December 2004.

Dunbar, Bonnie J. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 20 January 2005.

Dunbar, Bonnie J. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 23 March 2005.

Dunbar, Bonnie J. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 14 September 2005.

Engle, Joe H. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 22 April 2004.

Engle, Joe H. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 5 May 2004.

Engle, Joe H. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 27 May 2004.

Engle, Joe H. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 3 June 2004.

Engle, Joe H. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Houston, 24 June 2004.

Fabian, John M. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 10 February 2006.

Fullerton, C. Gordon. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright.
NASA
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Gregory, Frederick D. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Washington
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Gregory, Frederick D. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. Annapolis
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Haise, Fred W. Interviewed by Doug Ward. Houston, 23 March 1999.

Hart, Terry J. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 10 April 2003.

Hartsfield, Henry W. “Hank,” Jr. Interviewed by Carol Butler. Houston, 12 June 2001.

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Hauck, Frederick H. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Bethesda
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Hawley, Steven A. Interviewed by Sandra Johnson. Houston, 4 December 2002.

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O’Connor, Bryan. Interviewed by Sandra Johnson. Washington
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Peterson, Donald H. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 14 November 2002.

Ride, Sally K. Interviewed by Rebecca Wright. San Diego, 22 October 2002.

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Ross, Jerry L. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 4 December 2003.

Ross, Jerry L. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Houston, 26 January 2004.

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Shaw, Brewster H., Jr. Interviewed by Kevin M. Rusnak. Houston, 19 April 2002.

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Walker, Charles D. Interviewed by Jennifer Ross-Nazzal. Washington
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http://www.nasa.gov
.

collect
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.

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Index

Page numbers refer to the print edition.

Page numbers in italics refer to illustrations.

Abbey, George: crew assignments and,
98
,
143
,
151
,
156
,
157
,
181
,
234
,
247
,
283
; departure of, from
NASA
,
310
; shuttle design and,
50
;
STS
-51
L
and,
306
,
308
;
TFNG
s acceptance and,
61–64