SHUTTLE TRAGEDY STIRS PAINFUL MEMORIES AEROSPACE WORKERS RECALL CHALLENGER.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick, Grace Lee and Rachel Uranga Staff Writers

Astronomer Tony Beasley was standing outside his Bishop home before dawn Saturday, watching Columbia as it passed overhead, when he saw three bits of light - two smaller, one larger - separate from the bright reddish dot of the shuttle.

Beasley, the project manager at CalTech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory near Bishop, was among the first to see the spacecraft break up - a tragedy that has shocked and saddened the nation and prompted memories of the Challenger explosion 17 years ago.

``I saw the light coming over the mountains,'' Beasley said. ``Probably 20 or 30 seconds after I first saw the thing ... the object brightened slightly and it looked like there was some little thing coming off it.

``That happened once and then it happened again. There was a significant brightening and then something definitely came off it - like a flare coming off the piece.

``The thing that I thought of is I knew that the orbiter loses tiles as it comes in. I assumed that was what it was. The thing that struck me was that it was a big piece that came off. I remember at the time thinking, that must be a big tile.''

Word of the tragedy spread quickly inside the Boeing Rocketdyne facility in Canoga Park, where workers make the rocket engines that launch space shuttles into orbit and where Israeli astronaut Ilan Roman - one of the seven Columbia crew members - toured in 2000.

``An employee came up and told us to go inside - something bad had happened to Columbia,'' said Henry Pielaep Jr., who works in quality control. ``We went inside and it confirmed our worst fears. Some of us cried. It was mixed with extreme shock,'' he said.

John Olszewski, a 25-year welding engineer at Boeing, was grim.

``It's awful. It's sad. It's so hard to describe,'' he said. ``It's something that involves all of us. The only incidents that made me feel this way are the Challenger and 9-11.''

Columbia's destruction also had a personal impact in the Antelope Valley, where all five shuttles - including the ill-fated Challenger - were assembled in the 1970s and '80s. Nearby Edwards Air Force Base has hosted dozens of shuttle landings.

Hundreds of Antelope Valley residents worked on the shuttles, both during the assembly and for overhauls throughout the 1990s. Columbia's commander, Air Force Col. Rick Husband, served at Edwards for four years and attended its test pilot school.

``I was devastated - it really tore me up,'' retired Rockwell employee Jim Beall, 67, said while watching news coverage with friends at the Lancaster Elks Lodge. ``I felt so close to it. You do it so much and you're with it so long that you become close to it.''

Edwards employee Mike Poulos was a college student in 1981 when he stood among 300,000 cheering, flag-waving spectators to watch Columbia end the first shuttle mission at Edwards Air Force Base. Over the next 20 years, he watched Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis either land or depart.

``This is just like the Challenger all over again ... I remember that like it was yesterday,'' Poulos said.

``There are the real tragedies of the 20th century that come to mind immediately: the Titanic, World War I and II, Kennedy's assassination and the Challenger. Now in the 21st century we have Sept. 11 and the Columbia - and we're just beginning.''

The loss of Columbia also touched those with no personal connection to the space shuttle program.

When Columbia was launched Jan. 16, Daljeet Singh of North Hollywood, an Indian immigrant, made a point of telling his children about crew member Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian to fly aboard a U.S. space shuttle.

``Sixteen days ago, I was so excited the shuttle was going up,'' said Singh, who heard the news of the disaster while driving to the airport, then called to tell his children.

``We are very sad. The whole community is stunned. She was a national hero. She was a world hero. She was so daring and a charismatic woman.''

Nick Knight, 24, of Van Nuys said his first reaction to the news was disbelief. ``I just couldn't believe it had happened. My first thought was it could've been terrorism-related.''

Federal authorities have ruled that out.

Knight, who was in second grade when the Challenger exploded, mourned the loss for the astronauts' families.

``These people were national heroes. They were explorers trying to take the world to a new level. It's just really sad.''

Karen Lavoie, 43, of Pacoima said hearing of the explosion ``was kind of freaky to me because my son was born the week the Challenger exploded in 1986.''

She initially thought TV news was re-playing footage of the Challenger explosion on Jan. 28, 1986, ``but it didn't look like the same explosion, and I thought, What's going on?

``It was an eerie feeling.''

Walter Addison, 56, an actor from Van Nuys, recalled how he was going for a run on the beach in Florida when he saw the Challenger explode 100 miles away.

``The first time you weren't sure what it was, except that it didn't seem normal. It was pretty spectacular.''

Addison said the Columbia tragedy did not undermine his faith in the NASA space program.

``I think it's fortunate to have the record that we have,'' he said. ``We take (the success) for granted after a while, because it becomes commonplace, but it's incredible every time you do it.''

Anita Turner, 50, an accountant from Van Nuys, said she responded to the news with ``total shock.''

``You would think this is something they would have mastered 20-some years ago when it first happened,'' she said. ``I'm in complete disbelief. It happened ten minutes before landing, and they have no explanation, no reason for it. I feel indescribable sadness for the family ... It's the same nightmare again. You don't expect to relive it. I can't imagine the pain of the family. It's a sad day. It's a sad day for the world, not just the nation.''

Vlad Kopman, 17, a student at Sherman Oaks Center for Enriched Studies, said, ``I'm still pretty shocked.''

He said the explosion couldn't have come at a worse time, with the country on the brink of war.

``So many things are happening in my lifetime, the World Trade Center, now this. At my young age, I'm already brought into the world with such things.''

Susan Sharp, 52, of Reseda said the explosion was disheartening for the entire country.

``It's such a difficult time for us right now, with us going to war,'' she said. ``They're trying to instill patriotism in America. It's just a devastating blow to everything our nation stands for.

``You just wonder about technology and how many safety controls there were and you think about the loss of such great men.''

Staff Writer Helen Gao contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1) Customer Sheldon Hanagami watches news reports of the shuttle Columbia disaster at a Canoga Park Good Guys store near Boeing Rocketdyne.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer

(2) - Vlad Kopman

Student in Reseda

(3) - Walter Addison

Van Nuys

(4) - Susan Sharp

Reseda

(5) - Anita Turner

Van Nuys