-my wife, laurel, was on the shuttle. she was a scientist primarily involved with life sciences. one day during the mission, i was reviewing the notes, and then here s this foam issue. during launch, a large piece of foam had come off the external tank and impacted the left wing. me and my colleague had this discussion of, hey, you can use a family conference to talk to laurel and find out what she knew. -oh! -you got to remember the hat you re wearing is your flight-surgeon hat, not your family hat. it would have broken protocol for me to bring up an issue to a crew member, even though it s my wife. -i remember a certain sense of relief like, it s almost over. she s almost back. -i didn t talk to laurel about the foam issue. that conference was for iain and laurel, and i was a bystander. -i knew she was going to come back. you know, i never had a question in my mind. -given the fact that you may have lost a little bit of tile during lift-off, i m wondering
-there s this big countdown clock. i just remember staring at that clock, like, watching every second go down, like, is it now? is it now? -i don t know what i expected when i saw that clock like, for them to just magically arrive when it reached zero. -iain was very excited. -mom s coming home, and, you know, he s gonna get mom hugs, great meals. you know, life will be back to normal. -somebody from nasa said, you ll see the big kind of parachute that pops out of the back. and i think that s probably what i was most excited about [laughs] was watching the parachute come out. -there was something not right. i remember our capcom, charlie hobaugh, trying to re-establish communications. and he said, over and over again, columbia, houston, comm check.
And were very excited. All the crew kids are just enjoying each other, too, so running up and down the bleachers and just enjoying being there. At the runway, there was just a lot of energy in the air. And so as a kid, you kind of just kind of ride that energy. But all of the waiting just felt like an eternity. Here we go. Theres this big countdown clock. I just remember staring at that clock, like, watching every second go down, like, is it now . Is it now . I dont know what i expected when i saw that clock like, for them to just magically arrive when it reached zero. Iain was very excited. Moms coming home, and, you know, hes Gonna Get mom hugs, great meals. You know, life will be back to normal. Somebody from nasa said, youll see the big kind of parachute that pops out of the back