It was not a nice sight to see the old gal fall from the skies with seven on board. I am proud to say that I had the privilege to walk around the Columbia about 20 years ago when I was visiting at the Cape. A friend of mine got me a pass to go through the Vertical Assembly Building and they were replacing some tiles on the under side of Columbia that had been damaged from the landing of the previous mission. Since I have worked on all of the US Manned Space Vehicles, it is even more difficult for me to see such a tragedy!
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