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-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 wo ....
-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 wond ....
-oh, is that it? -there it is! -that s it right there. there it is. -yeah, i see it. i saw it. -there it is. oh, it s cool. -yeah. that is cool. oh, check that out, man. -it s going really fast. -whoa. -what the heck is that? -i don t know. -wow. -look at the chunks coming off of it! -yeah, i saw that. -yeah. i see what you re saying. that thing looks like it s flipping all over the place. -oh, yeah. -i can still see it, but i m losing it. -it was a saturday morning. it was a beautiful day. and as i turned onto park street, i heard a loud boom. [ rumbling ] -our house just shook. we looked at each other, and we said, what is that? -when i looked up, i saw a bright white ball. [ sirens wailing ] -the phones were ringing off the hook, much more than our dispatch staff could handle. -i didn t know if we were being attacked. -search and rescue teams are warning people not to touch any debris, should they come across it. -there are some disturbing pictures that are coming ....
-oh, is that it? -there it is! -that s it right there. there it is. -yeah, i see it. i saw it. -there it is. oh, it s cool. -yeah. that is cool. oh, check that out, man. -it s going really fast. -whoa. -what the heck is that? -i don t know. -wow. -look at the chunks coming off of it! -yeah, i saw that. -yeah. i see what you re saying. that thing looks like it s flipping all over the place. -oh, yeah. -i can still see it, but i m losing it. -it was a saturday morning. it was a beautiful day. and as i turned onto park street, i heard a loud boom. [ rumbling ] -our house just shook. we looked at each other, and we said, what is that? -when i looked up, i saw a bright white ball. [ sirens wailing ] -the phones were ringing off the hook, much more than our dispatch staff could handle. -i didn t know if we were being attacked. -search and rescue teams are warning people not to touch any debris, should they come across it. -there are some disturbing pictures that are coming ....
-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 wond ....