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Man recalls NASA shuttle work
By SUZANNAH GONZALES CRYSTAL RIVER -- Bill Almond got up Saturday and turned on the news. It was 8:10 a.m. On CNN he heard it was a clear day and if he went outside, he could see the shuttle Columbia pass by. So out went the 52-year-old former senior research scientist of Rockwell International, which built Columbia. "And I waited. And I waited. And I waited," Almond said at his Crystal River home Sunday afternoon. "And I never saw it." He came back in to hear that contact with the shuttle had been lost. Then he saw the images of white streaks and the disintegration. "And I knew at that time that Columbia was no more," he said. Working on and testing software that guides shuttles on their flight paths, Almond has been involved in more than 50 missions. He also worked at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Among his collection of commemorative patches of these missions is one marking the 10th anniversary of the Columbia in 1991. "Space flight is for young people, and it's for people to dream the dream," he said. " I got to live a good number of the dreams." During his six years at Rockwell in the late '80s and early '90s, Almond met several astronauts, though he did not know those aboard Columbia Saturday. When he learned what had happened Saturday, Almond felt "profound sadness" for the loss of lives of the astronauts he considers to be American heroes. They were people who dedicated their lives to improving humanity, he said. Though he thinks there always will be space exploration, Almond worries that what happened to Columbia will delay future space programs. The exploration should not stop, he said. And children should continue to aspire to be involved. When there is a successful mission, Almond said, "I feel great pride in America because I know all of the dedication and all of the work that goes into it. "Sometimes things don't go as they're intended to, but the people of the world need to continue to aim high," he said. -- Suzannah Gonzales can be reached at 860-7312 or sgonzales@sptimes.com.
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