by Dave Lentell

What if… seven came home?

8:56 a.m. - NASA Mission Controllers in Houston Texas, monitoring the approach and landing of the Space Shuttle Columbia, begin to notice indications of abnormal temperature readings in the left wing of the shuttle shortly after completing its first “roll reversal” maneuvers. As the readings begin to spike, several of the temperature and data sensors in the left wing begin to go completely off-line. Mission Control signals Columbia and asks for a readings check from STS-107 Mission Commander Rick Husband.

8:58 a.m. - After nearly a minute with no response, Mission Control in Houston receives a mayday from the Columbia. Husband declares an emergency and informs Houston that he and Pilot Willie McCool are taking manual control of the orbiter. Communications are garbled and it is unclear what the nature of the emergency is. Mission Control is no longer receiving sensor data from Columbia's left wing area, but it is becoming clear from the shuttle's overall telemetry readings that something is very wrong.

9:14 a.m. - As family and friends wait expectantly for the return of Columbia, the on-lookers are stunned to see emergency vehicles racing towards KSC runway 215. Seconds later, a succession of sonic booms announce the impending arrival of Columbia and as the orbiter comes into view, the nature of the emergency is revealed. Columbia's left wing is smoking and appears to be heavily damaged.

9:16 a.m. - Those gathered to witness the landing look on with the rest of the world as Columbia approaches the landing strip. Burst tires in the left wheel-well prevent deployment of the landing gear, forcing Columbia to make an unprecedented “wheels up” landing.

9:19 a.m. - Columbia comes to a stop as firefighters immediately begin fire suppression protocols. Rescue personnel successfully evacuate all seven members of the STS-107 crew, none of whom sustain more than minor injuries.

March 22, 2003 - The official report of the Columbia Incident Team determines that a piece of foam insulation, dislodged from the orbiter's external tank during liftoff, was responsible for damaging the HRSI tiles near Columbia's left wheel-well. This damage, while originally thought to be slight during post-liftoff analysis, was enough to allow superheated air to enter the left wheel-well. A cascading series of system failures began shortly thereafter including loss of the left tires/landing gear system and the left gear door. Serious damage to the internal wing structure also occurred, but Columbia's speed and altitude at the time were sufficiently low enough that loss of wing integrity was not total. Husband and McCool were able to take manual control of the orbiter and execute a successful controlled crash/emergency landing at Kennedy Space Center - a feat unmatched in the annals of aviation history.

July 3, 2003 - After serious questions about the shuttle program, stemming mainly from the Columbia incident as well as the 1986 Challenger disaster, NASA announces a scheduled retirement of the shuttle fleet and its subsequent replacement by a joint-venture Lockheed-Martin/Boeing Orbital Space Plane, with the first OSP slated to become operational in 2006. While Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavor will continue to fly missions until their OSP replacements are on-line, it is announced that due to the level of damage suffered during STS-107, Columbia would be retired immediately.

July 10, 2003 - Columbia is placed into permanent storage at Kennedy Space Center.

December 2, 2004 - EnergiAmerica - a new company formed by former employees of various aerospace companies and backed by an unnamed multi-billion dollar U.S. investment corporation - announces a licensing agreement with RSC Energia to build Energia-type heavy-lift launchers for use in the United States.

June 17, 2005 - EnergiAmerica rolls out its Energia III heavy lift launcher - capable of lifting nearly 300 tons into orbit. The subsequent successful launch of two major ISS components instantly makes EnergiAmerica the leading launch-vehicle contractor in the world.

November 23, 2005 - After several successful Energia III launches, NASA enters into a contract agreement with EnergiAmerica to provide all of its launch vehicles. Of curious note is the very reasonable (some pundits even use the word “charitable”) bid EnergiAmerica gives to NASA for the contract.

January 12, 2006 - The Space Shuttle Columbia is packed up and shipped out by truck from Kennedy Space Center. Except for a sidebar piece in Aviation Weekly, its departure goes mostly unnoticed.

September 1, 2007 - In a move that intrigues the business world, EnergiAmerica announces the first divisional off-shoot of its corporation - a company given the rather bland name of Columbia Travel.

September 9, 2007 - Columbia Travel, Inc. holds a press conference just outside the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center to announce that it is now taking reservations for commercial flight tours to the Moon. Many of those in attendance - unable to help themselves - begin laughing at the idea. Despite the fact that the OSP is flying twice-monthly missions to the ever-expanding ISS, no one has gone beyond Earth's orbit, much less to the moon, since Apollo 17 in 1972. The laughter stops when the doors to the VAB open and a fully refurbished - and somewhat modified - Space Shuttle Columbia rolls out, attached to a massive Energia III launch vehicle.

September 21, 2007 - Despite a cost of $3 million per seat, all 21 passenger slots for Columbia's first trip to the Moon are filled. The wait list of pre-paid passengers extends well into the next three years.

October 6, 2008 - Nearly two years after being removed from storage, Columbia is launched into orbit to rendezvous with the ISS. She will not return to Earth, but will be permanently docked with the ISS (where her passengers will embark and debark by OSP) when she's not conducting tours.

January 15, 2009 - Columbia makes her first 3-day lunar trip. Aboard are 14 EnergiAmerica and Columbia Travel VIPs as well as all seven members of the STS-107 mission who are invited on the trip to celebrate Columbia's “return to flight.” The trip is a complete success.

February 22, 2009 - Columbia becomes the first privately-owned manned space-craft to begin commercial operations by taking 21 passengers to the moon and back.

TODAY - May 15, 2010 Refit Columbia, as she's come to be known by shuttle enthusiasts, was rebuilt by the EnergiAmerica Corp. beginning in 2006. As a result of the heavy damage to the left wing that occurred during Columbia's final STS mission, both wings were removed and replaced by a more stylish design. The payload bay doors were removed, updated and permanently sealed - allowing the payload bay to be converted into a passenger/observation compartment. Her engines have been refurbished and meet all requirements for the round-trip to the moon. The most notable difference on Refit Columbia, other than the new wing and payload door configuration, is the removal of her thermal tile system. The entire tile system was replaced by a lightweight titanium-shell hull in early 2007. This hull is strong enough to deflect most space debris and as Refit Columbia was not designed to return to Earth, thermal issues were not a consideration. The titanium hull and other modifications have made Refit Columbia considerably heavier than she was in her STS days, but as she was launched by an Energia III, this was not a concern. Despite no longer having the thermal tile system, EnergiAmerica felt sentiment was important and designed the paint scheme to closely mimic Columbia's original configuration. Permission was even given by NASA to use its “meatball” logo. Passengers board Columbia via the ISS where they are first brought aboard by the Orbital Space Plane (OSP). Both Columbia and ISS provisions are provided by ProgressivEnergia re-supply craft.

THE MODEL

The idea for this project came about as I was trying to find a way to combine my desire to do something in honor of Columbia while at the same time participating in the “What if?” contest. I'd originally wanted to do an Orbital Battle Platform, but after February 1st, I just didn't feel right working on anything other than a Columbia. So… what if the foam had hit someplace else? What if the damage manifested at a lower and slower portion of the return flight? What if Columbia made it home? What might her future have been?

Obviously this is Monogram-Revell's Armageddon Shuttle kit. Which - with a few part modifications - is obviously Revell's Space Shuttle kit. I used the original Revell shuttle OMS Pod covers (which are included in the kit) as I felt they more closely resembled the original shuttle. I used the Armageddon shuttle wings, but trimmed the forward vanes off to smooth out the leading edge as I didn't think they looked very good to begin with. I used the Armageddon payload bay doors as I thought they added a bit more flare to the model, and they gave me a good location to put windows on each side. But, since I used the original OMS pod covers, I had to fill in the backsides of the doors with sheet styrene as the two were not designed to be used together. I chose to leave the “canard wings” from the Armageddon kit off of the model as, much like the vanes, I thought it detracted from the otherwise clean lines. As Refit Columbia would have a smooth titanium shell, I also sanded off all the raised panel lines from the kit, which oddly, made it harder to paint in the long run, having sanded off all my easy guides. Ah well.

To “practice” for some upcoming shuttle projects of mine that will require such accurizing work (and despite my desire to keep things simple) I went ahead and fashioned a SILTS pod out of a Hellfire missile and cut out the slot where the drag-chute door (removed from Refit Columbia) would be. I'd like to take this time to mention that anyone trying to accurize a shuttle, should consider consulting three references - Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System: The First 100 Missions by Dennis R. Jenkins, The Space in Miniature (SIM) #3 - Space Shuttle book by Mike Mackowski, and last but not least - Jay Chladek.

Everything else is pretty much standard. Standard colors, standard (mostly) paint scheme. Most of the decals are from the kit, but some were from Real Space models and a few of them were home-made (I spent more money making decals than I did on the kit!!) I also used some of the new Cutting Edge Shuttle Masks to see how they work (not bad). I mounted it on a glass rod (since Refit Columbia wouldn't need landing gear in space and therefore doesn't have any!) and mounted it on a Starship Modeler base (Suck up! Suck up!). All in all, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

If only wishing it had happened could make it so. She was a good ship and she and her crew will never be forgotten.

Image: Top view

Image: Left/front

Image: Right side