Columbia Forever!

By Diane Rhodes

Why would upwards of 80,000 people would want to gather in the desert in the middle of July and hang around for a day and a half in blistering heat and dust? Because we would have an opportunity to see THREE shuttles in one day and we were space activists, of course!

Shuttle and chase planes coming into Edwards AFB. Photo courtesy Terry Savage.

A group of about 20 OASIS members went at the Edwards Air Force Base dry lake bed to see the landing of the Columbia after her fourth trip into space. It was July 4, 1982, and President Reagan was also there to send the new shuttle Challenger off to Houston to be fitted with her engines. Also for the president's edification, the testbed shuttle Enterprise was on display on the VIP side of the lake. We were on the opposite side of the lake bed, but we had a good view of her, with binoculars.

The OASIS contingent met the evening before at the Fortress of Ultimate Harkness (the home of Terry Savage, Alan Katz and Jim Gafford) in Redondo Beach, to form the convoy of vehicles going to Edwards Air Force Base for the landing the next day. It was a motley crew: Terry Savage, Carol Amato and her kids, Lauri Rohn, Alan Katz, Dave Pleger, Mike Reeder, Pat Montour, Ray Haas and his girlfriend Kat, my husband Michael and I, and several others from the chapter.

We set off as dusk settled in, and drove for three hours to get to the tiny town of Rosamond where Edwards Air Force Base is located. Then we were directed by a bunch is very tired-looking Air Force personal into rows and rows of cars along the fence on the dry lakebed. Since it was the night before July the fourth, there were a lot of fireworks going off in the night between the cars and along the fence. Anyone thinking of sleeping that night was sadly mistaken. The desert gets very cold at night, it was noisy and we were too jazzed to sleep.

Those of us who did actually get some rest were roused very early in the morning as practice runs by sleek T38 jet trainers roared along the landing path. This was soon followed by flights of helicopters with film crews flying back and forth along the fence, recording the massive crowd. The landing would occur just before 7 AM. The OASIS contingent had managed to score a place right on the fence and we all stood crowded shoulder to shoulder scanning eagerly upward as the minutes ticked by. Every skyward flash and sound was greeted with the entire crowd swiveling their heads in that direction. Finally, we heard it: the double sonic booms thundered in our ears! The shuttle would take a looping path over our heads to turn around and come back for its landing approach. Squinting eagerly upward we could just barely make out it's underside as a tiny dark gray triangle speeding overhead. As it touched down, a massive roar went up from the crowd behind the fence.

OASIS members Ed Hollowell, Diane Rhodes, and Dallas Legan attempt to keep warm while waiting for the shuttle to land. Photograph courtesy Terry Savage.

It was over so soon: that beautiful but ungainly vehicle Columbia coasted to a stop about a mile from where we were. We watched for a little while as trucks came to service the vehicle; then Columbia was towed away toward the VIP side of the strip, where the crew would disembark.

It would be a few hours before the president's speech and Challenger's departure, so we all wandered off in the heat and dust to amuse ourselves. When we noticed activity at the far end of the landing strip we rushed back to our place at the fence. The modified 747 taxied out to takeoff position with Challenger riding high and proud on her back, and President Reagan began to speak over a loudspeaker. After an overly long speech, saying a lot and promising vague things, President Reagan said that on that day we were looking at our future, taking off for Houston NOW! With that, the engines of Flight 415 roared and the double bird raced as fast as her ungainly weight allowed and was airborne. She took a couple of loops around the Antelope Valley before she gained enough height to clear the mountains and head east.

As we turned away from the fence and got ready to depart (it took HOURS to get that many cars out of the base!), we looked at each other: We were tired, hot, sunburned, sweaty and coating in a fine yellowish dust. It was GREAT!

Sadly, two of those three proud vehicles are gone now, after serving this country so well. The images of Challenger's and Columbia's demises are burned forever in my brain, but they can't overshadow that bright day so full of promise and achievement in July 1982.

Diane Rhodes has been an OASIS Member since 1982.