COLLAGE HONORS SHUTTLE, VICTIMS FAMED PHOTO KEY IN NASA INQUEST.Byline: Amy Raisin Darvish Staff Writer One year ago today, Bill Hartenstein's lifelong fascination with photography and the space program placed him at the center of a tragedy that stunned the world. A day after the space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. Columbia broke apart over Texas on Feb. 1, 2003, claiming the lives of the seven astronauts on board, Hartenstein's predawn pre·dawn n. The time just before dawn. pre  dawn adj. photos of the shuttle's re-entry RE-ENTRY, estates. The resuming or retaking possession of land which the party lately had.2. Ground rent deeds and leases frequently contain a clause authorizing the landlord to reenter on the non-payment of rent, or the breach of some covenant, when the were in the hands of NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. officials desperate for answers. ``If you ever go to a launch, you can't help but be overwhelmed by it, by the sight of it, the sound, the physical feel of it,'' Hartenstein, 46, said Saturday from his Santa Clarita Santa Clarita, city (1990 pop. 110,642), Los Angeles co., S Calif., suburb 30 mi (48 km) NW of downtown Los Angeles, on the Santa Clara River; inc. 1987. Situated in the Santa Clara valley and nearby canyons, Santa Clarita includes the former towns of Canyon Country, residence. ``There's truly nothing like it.'' Nor, he said, is there anything like the time-stands-still horror that seized him when he learned that the miracle of space technology he had just witnessed overhead moments earlier was lost. A veteran aerospace photographer, Hartenstein has witnessed at least 10 shuttle launches at Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral (kənăv`ərəl), low, sandy promontory extending E into the Atlantic Ocean from a barrier island, E Fla., separated from Merritt Island by the Banana River, a lagoon; named (1963) Cape Kennedy in memory of President John , Fla., and makes a living selling his photos to industry publications and mainstream media. He was not on a job when he and a friend captured the definitive images of the shuttle's re-entry a year ago in the skies over the Owens River Owens River A river, about 193 km (120 mi) long, of eastern California rising in the Sierra Nevada and flowing generally southward, formerly to Owens Lake, Valley, on the central eastern edge of California. But the Burbank native understands that those shots will likely define his career. The pair returned to the Owens Valley Radio Observatory The Owens Valley Radio Observatory (OVRO) is a radio observatory located near Bishop, California, approximately 250 miles north of Los Angeles on the east side of the Sierra Nevada. It is owned and operated by the California Institute of Technology. on Friday in tribute to the sacrifice of the seven astronauts one year after their deaths. There, Hartenstein dedicated a collage featuring the crew, the shuttle, its liftoff and re-entry. On the morning of the re-entry, after hours Adv. 1. after hours - not during regular hours; "he often worked after hours" of prepping cameras and equipment in 20-degree darkness, Hartenstein glimpsed Columbia burning into the atmosphere on the western horizon, a distant light hurtling across the sky at approximately 20,000 mph. At the moment that Hartenstein turned his eyes to one of his cameras, friend and fellow photographer Gene Blevins, a freelance photographer who works for the Daily News, spotted a reddish object break off of the space craft. Hartenstein thought little of Blevins' claim until minutes later. ``We got our shots and it was really cold,'' Hartenstein said. ``At that point I was thinking about getting in the truck and warming my fingers up. I turned on the NASA audio and that's when I heard it. Right away, I just knew they were gone, that the shuttle was lost.'' The words that crackled crack·le v. crack·led, crack·ling, crack·les v.intr. 1. To make a succession of slight sharp snapping noises: a fire crackling in the wood stove. 2. from the audio feed from NASA froze Hartenstein in place: ``...last contact with Columbia was over Texas.'' The picture of a streaking Columbia taken at approximately 5:54:34 a.m. became known as No. 1 Flash in the NASA investigation. Based on NASA's timeline of the shuttle's disintegration, Hartenstein and Blevins captured the doomed craft about six minutes before it was destroyed. ``The two days after are really a blur,'' Hartenstein said. ``After the shock of it all, there was just this profound sadness. And then you think about how you've captured this shot that ends up being very valuable, not just in terms of the investigation but historically.'' Amy Raisin Darvish, (661) 257-5254 amy.raisin(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) Photographer William Hartenstein, who captured some of the last shots of space shuttle Columbia in flight, on Feb. 1, 2003, returns to the Owens Valley This article has multiple issues: * It needs to be expanded. * It may need copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling. site where he took the photos on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy to unveil a collage. (2) William Hartenstein signs a collage he created that tells the story of space shuttle Columbia's life and death, from its rollout from Rockwell's Palmdale facility to its fiery descent last year. (3) William Hartenstein leaves a replica Columbia crew patch in the sands of Owens Valley, in memory of the astronauts who lost their lives when the shuttle broke up on re-entry. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News (4) This picture, taken on the morning of Feb. 1, 2003, shows the space shuttle Columbia streaking over the Owens Valley Radio Observatory. Moments later, NASA lost radio contact with the orbiter as it broke up over Texas on re-entry. William Hartenstein/Special to the Daily News |
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