The astronauts were, in fact, scientists. Their names will appear in future scientific papers that result from research done during the 16-day mission.
The price they paid for science was terrible, all agree. But even the families of the astronauts said the explorers left Earth with "a willingness to accept risk in the pursuit of knowledge -- knowledge that might improve the quality of life for all mankind." Amid their grief, the families also said "the bold exploration of space must go on," according to a statement released yesterday by NASA.
The air we breathe
University of Michigan aerospace engineer Gerard Faeth led a Columbia experiment designed to learn how soot and other pollutants are produced in the burning of fuel used for everything from diesel trucks to coal-fired power planets and jet airliners.
"The research has significant potential applications to saving lives and improving health on Earth," Faeth said in a telephone interview.
Soot consists of tiny particles: 200 hundred of them side-by-side are about as wide as a human hair. Other harmful substances like carbon monoxide glom onto soot, and the whole mess can lodge in your lungs.
Several studies confirm that airborne soot is responsible for 60,000 premature deaths every year, Faeth said. Soot also aggravates asthmatics and others with lung deficiencies.
It is unclear why solid particles -- rather than gases -- are produced in the high temperatures of combustion. The process is nearly impossible to study on the ground. Here's why: In a campfire, soot is responsible for the yellow flames. They flicker about wildly, making observations difficult. A candle flame is steadier, but it is highly affected by Earth's gravity, so it does not behave like other combustion flames.
In the shuttle test, candle flames grew six to 10 times larger than on Earth and were therefore useful models for standard combustion flames.
About half the data was downloaded before the shuttle came apart over Texas.
Faeth led similar work aboard two shuttle flights in 1997. Though more research is needed, he is on the trail of devising new, cleaner combustion methods that industry could then apply.
"We think we're pretty close to getting some ways to inhibit the formation of soot," he said.
Various schemes were to be tested this summer in a series of experiments slated for the International Space Station. The tests would attempt to take standard soot-emitting fires and turn them into pure, blue flames, Faeth said.
Those experiments will likely be delayed, however, as NASA is forced in the short term to focus on safely swapping crews at the space station.
Doing science in space involves an immense amount of advance planning. Faeth trained the Columbia crew for two years. Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon did more than half the work for Faeth's study. Mike Anderson, Dave Brown and Kalpana Chawla all helped out. Faeth said the names of each would be included in scientific papers he expects to produce based on the research.
"As valuable as these results are, however, they pale beside the importance of the lives of seven courageous and extraordinarily gifted individuals, and our sadness seeing the sorrow of their families as a result of their loss," Faeth said.
Other experiments
Columbia's science marathon involved other health-related experiments. One studied how new muscle is created. It was a total loss, however, as it would have relied on measurements of the astronauts after the mission. Other work examined prostate tumor growth; at least some of that data was returned.
The Columbia astronauts also worked on non-health science projects.
One series of tests considered how waterlogged soil behaves in an earthquake. The temporary destabilization known to occur was responsible for a significant chunk of the damage in a large 1989 earthquake in the San Francisco Bay Area.
University of Colorado researcher Stein Sture said about 90 percent of this data was returned. Counting the loss of the actual specimens, he figures the overall effort was about 60 percent successful.
"We have enough data to improve our understand of what happens" when soil becomes slurry in an earthquake, Sture told SPACE.com, and he said the results would "definitely" help save lives as engineers develop better methods for anchoring bridges and buildings.
Sture and his colleagues spent a lot of time with the Columbia crew before the mission, both professionally and socially.
"The astronauts were terrific persons," he said, "good natured, highly accomplished, dedicated, helpful and tireless in their efforts to make certain that everything went well and that a maximum amount of science was successfully achieved. We mourn the loss of very close colleagues and friends."
The Mediterranean Israeli Dust Experiment (MEIDEX) examined how dust might affect the global climate. Some of the data was beamed back to the ground. A NASA spokesperson said Tuesday that scientists were going over what they had and would announce later in the week how much data had been obtained.
A MEIDEX camera also made images of above-cloud electrical emissions during nighttime thunderstorms. These
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