(Please Note: As an organization, Project P.R.O.V.E. no longer exists.)

By now we are, all of us, aware of what happened high in the atmosphere over America, and particularly Texas, on the morning of 1 February 2003.  A number of alert citizens had their home camcorders pointed skyward as Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated before their very eyes.  It was a very sad and traumatic moment for everyone who saw it.  

    Those who shot video footage of this terrible event found themselves in a position to make a very important contribution to the subsequent investigation of exactly what happened to Columbia.  There has been a nationwide appeal by NASA for anyone who took pictures of any kind of this event, to submit them to the board of enquiry for analysis.  These pictures, and videos, are crucial for establishing the chain of events which cost seven Astronauts their lives.

    We at Project P.R.O.V.E. (People Recording Orbiting Vehicles from Earth) make it a regular part of our daily routine to find out what man-made space vehicles are scheduled to pass over their location.  We take our home camcorders outside, and make video recordings of these craft.  Some shoot video of only those spacecraft with human crews aboard.  Others include unmanned satellites as well.  Some who don't own camcorders, make visual observations.  These may be done with the naked eye, binoculars, or even telescopes.  There are VERY few of us.  

    In the early morning hours of 1 February 2003, I arose from bed in order to make a video recording of Columbia's re-entry pass over my home in Sacramento, California.  The Space Shuttle was scheduled to fly nearly over our zenith here.  The zenith is the highest point in the sky, directly overhead.  Because every other Shuttle flight in the past approached it's landing base in Florida from the direction of Mexico, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to observe and record a Shuttle re-entry.  I had never seen a re-entry, with the exception of a home made tape sent me by my friend Dr. Oren Swearingen, of Texas. When my 14 year old son, and I, went outside to await Columbia, we found to our utter consternation that Sacramento was socked in with pea soup fog!  What a bitter disappointment!

     Had I known that there would be fog that morning, and had done a better job of planning ahead, we could have risen an hour or so earlier.  This would have allowed time for us to drive some 30 miles to our northeast into the Sierra Nevada foothills, thus getting ourselves above the layer of fog lurking in the valley.  We could then have made a video recording of Columbia flying across the sky from the western horizon, to as far east as she might have remained visible.  This would have been the ONLY video tape of Columbia made in California, or the far west.  There were reports from various observers in California that Columbia was beginning to show signs of distress when she crossed the sea-coast.  Only one man in San Francisco managed to take still photographs.  There exist, to my present knowledge, not a single video tape of Columbia's final re-entry pass over the west coast.

     Imagine how valuable such a tape would have been to NASA, and the investigation team!  I will always regret having failed to make the short trip to the hills that morning.  But......hindsight is always 20/20 compared to foresight.

     We at Project P.R.O.V.E. now make a renewed global appeal for volunteers to undertake the job of recording spacecraft flying over their locations.  It is so very easy to do, and could become instrumental in saving lives in the future.  We should not fail to record such events as the loss of Columbia again.  We would be NASA's eyes and ears should another tragedy befall humanity's space travelers.

     During World War II, thousands of British and American volunteers joined observer corps in order to watch the skies for enemy aircraft.  These people saved many lives by alerting defenses to the presence of Axis bombers before they could carry out their missions of death and destruction.  Members of Project P.R.O.V.E. could have served much the same function for our space program. 

As an organization, Project P.R.O.V.E. no longer exists.

© 2003 Jeff Challender