NASA - Space Shuttle Columbia - February 1, 2003

After 17 years of accident-free Space Shuttle Flights, NASA suffered another dark hour. Launch STS-107, broke up on re-entry into earth's atmosphere after completing a 16-day mission. Crew members: Rick Husband (Commander), William McCool (Pilot), Kaplana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark (Mission Specialists), Mike Anderson (Payload Commander), and Ilan Ramon (Payload Specialist) all perished in the accident. The leading theory is that foam from the external fuel tank broke off and breached the heat shield tiles on the left wing during take-off. This rendered the Shuttle unable to handle the 3,000-degree inferno of re-entry.


NASA is investigating the root cause, will resolve it and a phoenix will rise once more. President Bush made it perfectly clear: "The cause in which they died will continue. Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on."

Details on Human Space Flight: NASA Space Flight.



Pentagon "Phoenix Project"

A half an hour after the World Trade Center was attacked, the Pentagon was subjected to a similar attack which killed 184 people and destroyed nearly 20% of the structure.

Department of Defense personnel immediately cleared the affected area, and within a month, the rebuilding operation, titled "Phoenix Project" was born and underway.

Under the leadership of Walker Lee Evey, Pentagon Renovation Program Manager, the "E" Ring of the Pentagon opened for business on September 11, 2002, exactly one year after the attack. The entire restoration of the damaged area was completed in the spring of 2003. On June 11, 2002, the last of 4000 slabs of limestone was placed on the western wall, wrecked by the September 11 attacks. A dedication capsule and a plaque containing the names of the deceased were also placed there.

On August 15, 2002, 22 workers returned to the rebuilt section of the Pentagon. While NYC is still having discussions on what to build at the WTC site, re-construction at the Pentagon is complete.

In a separate project, an outdoor memorial is being designed by the US Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District in coordination with victims' families and professional consultants. The Corps of Engineers has a long historic involvement in building, adding to, renovating and repairing many of our national memorials.

The Phoneix Project and the Memorial Project are being carried out alongside other major renovations already underway.

Details on the Phoenix Project: Pentagon Renovation Program -- Phoenix Project



Concorde Returns to Service

The most poignant example has to be Concorde. While the terrorist attacks were in progress, Concorde made her first passenger flight since July 25, 2000, carrying engineers on a test flight. On that day, an Air France Concorde crashed outside of Paris, killing all 113 aboard. Every pundit in and out of the aviation industry declared the crash to be the end of supersonic travel. Oh, and if she could be restored to service, no one would ever buy a ticket to fly Concorde.

People would be too afraid, and economics would force Concorde's demise. With her airworthiness certificates revoked by France and Great Britain, she would never fly again.The crash was caused by debris on the runway in Paris, which shredded the magnesium-impregnated tires, which in turn shot into the fuel tanks under the left wing and set them ablaze. With both engines on one side of the aircraft rendered non-functional and a left wing fully engulfed in flame, the out-of-control plane crashed within two minutes on a hotel in Gonesse a few miles away. In the 16 months that followed, the crash causes were investigated. Michelin invented a better tire. Fuel tanks were lined with kevlar. Many other safety enhancements were put into place.

Dozens of test flights were performed. It became clear that Concorde would return. Her airworthiness certificates were restored. On November 7, 2001, regularly scheduled commercial service re-commenced. Contrary to the pundits claims that "no one would fly them again," tickets are already sold out. Enthusiasts were able to take special 2-hour trips over the Atlantic from France to experience Mach 2 for about USD $1,700, something never before offered.

British Airways retired this aeronautical marvel on October 24, 2003. Air France retired their Concordes on May 31, 2003. Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic Airways wanted his airline to buy BA's Concordes and keep them flying. He had asked the UK government to intervene on his behalf, but without manufacturer support, such intervention is meaningless: both British Aerospace and Airbus Industrie will no longer manufacture parts or support the aircraft...it's too expensive. Other economic realities in the form of massive fuel burns required for supersonic travel, astronomical price of parts, and the need for avionics upgrades on these 30+ -year old craft were the main factor in this premature retirement.

If your car is equipped with an ABS braking system, remember Concorde, for which ABS was orginally invented. Though Concorde is now a museum piece, for aficionados her spirit will fly forever. Indeed one UK-based group Save Concorde is now working to bring her back to the skies. Maybe she will be a phoenix once more, but failing that we eagerly await her successor.

Details on Concorde's history:Concorde-Jet and Concorde SST.
Details on Returning Concorde to Flight/Building a Successor: Save Concorde



NASA - Space Shuttle Challenger - January 28, 1986

After only five years into the Space Shuttle Program, NASA suffered its darkest hour. Launch STS-51L had been delayed several times, so flight planners were quite eager to launch. The mission was to deploy a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRSB) into orbit. On this morning at 1138 EST, Challenger lifted off carrying Francis R. Scobee, Commander; Michael J. Smith, Pilot; Judith A. Resnik, Mission Specialist 1; Ellison S. Onizuka, Mission Specialist 2; Ronald E. McNair, Mission Specialist 3; Gregory B. Jarvis, Payload Specialist 1; and Sharon Christa McAuliffe, Payload Specialist. Most people remember Ms. McAuliffe as a beloved school teacher who was going to address her students from the Shuttle. Seventy-three seconds later, there was a flash and the fuel tank exploded. The booster rockets flew wildly before crashing into the ocean. The cockpit of the orbiter sheared off and crashed with all astronauts inside. Speculation abounded as to whether the astronauts were killed in the initial explosion, or experienced the horror of their descent right till impact.


For months, the accident was investigated and the cause was found to be a failed "O" ring in one of the booster rockets. During this time, the future of human space flight lay in serious jeopardy. NASA was the butt of jokes. The space program which had achieved so much was the object of derision. The usual experts, pundits, and analysts declared human space flight... in fact all space flight to be dead: too dangerous and too costly. Who could argue with the experts, especially when the US was still reeling from the trauma of the accident?


Less than 3 years later on September 29, 1988, the phoenix known as Space Shuttle Mission STS-26 launched, carrying another Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRSC) into orbit. Today, the Space Shuttle program is a great success. The Space Shuttleís re-usable orbiters has been instrumental in the building of the International Space Station, satellite deployment, and scientific experiments. Technologies that we take for granted today, were born of the Apollo and Shuttle era. Far from being abandoned, NASA's space program has expanded and is stronger than ever.

Details on Human Space Flight: NASA Space Flight.



Empire State Building - July 28, 1945 - July 30, 1945

On July 28, 1945, at around 9:45AM on this foggy morning, a disoriented US Army pilot flew his B-25 bomber into the Empire State Building at the 79th' and 80th Floors. Some 14 people in the building perished in this crash. Burning fuel spilt down the stairwells, and an elevator snapped off its cable and crashed to the basement. The B-25 was a large plane for its time, however, in all fairness, a fully loaded B25 under normal conditions carried at most 1,000 gallons of fuel. The B25 that hit the Empire State Building was preparing to land at Newark, so we could assume that most of the fuel had been burned in flight. The Empire State Building was not torn down or abandoned because "no one would work there anymore." In fact, the building re-opened a mere two days later.

Details on the Empire State Building: Great Buildings.



Cities Re-Built

Washington, D.C. after the War of 1812, The Great Fires of Chicago and New York, San Francisco after the Great Earthquake of 1906, London after the Blitzkrieg, Hiroshima and Nagasaki after the A-Bomb... all have been rebuilt bigger, better, and safer than before.

San Francisco

Regarding the '06 earthquake, here is what Governor Pardee of California had to say on April 23, 1906:
"The work of rebuilding San Francisco has commenced, and I expect to see the great metropolis replaced on a much grander scale than ever before."

Information on the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 is available here:

Museum of the City of San Francisco

Johnstown, PA

Johnstown rebuilt their city three times after devasting floods. "We will Rebuild" is their official city motto.

A Roar Like Thunder, June 1, 1889

And 47 years later, another disaster, March 17, 1936

Great Flood of 1977 -- Once in 10,000 Years

Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo sits right on the "Ring of Fire" and is subjected to some of the most powerful earquakes in the world. It has been rebuilt three times, in the past three centuries, after earthquakes killed 15,000 in 1793; 12,000 in 1844; and 142,000 in 1923. Today, Tokyo is not only a modern city, it is engaged in the Asian skyscraper arms race vying to have the next tallest building in the world.

Great Tokyo Earthquake of 1923 -- National Information Service for Earthquake Engineering, University of California, Berkeley



Sri Lanka Capital Rebuilds its Twin Towers Twice After Terrorist Attacks

In Sri Lanka's capital city of Colombo, resides a World Trade Center that was attacked twice by Tamil terrorists and repaired twice. The Colombo WTC consists of side-by-side twin towers, each 37 stories. The first attack occured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden truck into the Sri Lankan Central Bank, heavily damaging the neighboring towers. On October 15, 1997, three days after the towers were repaired and re-opened, a truck filled with 880 pounds of explosives detonated almost directly under the West Tower, destroying a large section, as well as part of the East Tower and two hotels.The Sri Lankans rebuilt their twin towers, the Central Bank and all other buildings affected by both attacks exactly as they were. Many expressed hope that New York City will do the same.

Sri Lanka Towers Tall After '96 Bomb, By DILSHIKA JAYAMAHA, Associated Press Writer

Information on Sri Lanka WTC from Skyscrapers.com.


Conclusion

The spirit of rebuilding and restoring is what makes societies great and free to choose for them selves how they wish to grow their societies. Had we followed the doomsayers and naysayers, there would be no skyscrapers, no supersonic travel and probably no air travel at all. Cities would not have been rebuilt and returned to greatness.

You can make it happen!

"Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistence."

-- Daniel Hudson Burnham (1846-1912), American architect and city planner

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Reasons to Rebuild


Why Rebuilding the Twin Towers is Sound Economically

1. The foundation already exists and was designed specially for the Twin Towers. There probably is not a need to re-fit or change the foundation other than to repair compromised sections, a job being performed as the debris field is cleared. Since foundation work is often the longest phase of any building process, rebuilding the Towers can be completed more expeditiously than building a different complex.

2. The Twin Towers will re-claim over 10,000,000 square feet of column-free office space. The smaller surrounding buildings could be rebuilt larger and create even more office space. This will restore 100,000 jobs to Lower Manhattan.

3. The Twin Towers will restore revenues from tourism; in fact revenues should increase. Tourists will flock to the observation deck, bringing substantial income in the form of viewing fees, souvenirs, food, and other merchandise. This is all subject to sales taxes, which will help state and city coffers as well. On clear days, even after the attack, tourists flock to the Empire State Building, as they did before. Tourists probably wouldnít seek out four buildings that are simply an office complex. The proposed four 55-story complex proposed by Larry Silverstein and the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation will not feature an observation deck as there are taller buildings around. Even the Woolworth Building is taller than the proposed complex. The loss of observation deck revenue, as well as the loss of revenue from souvenirs and other merchandise related to the Towers is substantial. According to the Port Authority, 150,000 tourists visited the observation deck each day. Sales taxes were collected on the $9 viewing fee. That is $40 million per year, just on taxes from viewing fees.

4. Nothing has been said about the shopping complex that was housed underneath and east of the Towers. Sale of merchandise equals sales taxes.


Non-Economic Reasons to Rebuild

1. Building anything with less occupied height than the Twin Towers is tantamount to kneeling to terrorism. No terrorist organization has the right to dictate occupied building heights or what a skyline should look like and how ideals, hopes, and dreams should be compromised. Whatever is built at the WTC site will send a message around the world. What message do we want that to be? The world is watching how we chose to move forward. This is very much a world concern

2. The Twin Towers were an internationally known monument, and just as we would restore Big Ben, the Brandenburg Gate, the Eiffel Tower or the White House, we should restore the World Trade Center.

3. Restoring the World Trade Center is strongly supported by the public in virtually every public opinion poll-- usually around 70 percent.

4. We restored the White House when the British burned it down in the War of 1812. We restored the Pentagon after it was hit on September 11.

5. Restoring the World Trade Center is the best possible memorial to those who died there and literally turns the entire site into the memorial Rudolf Giuliani said it must be.

6. Restoring the World Trade Center will restore confidence not only in New York and America but in the entire world that civilization doesn't just survive barbarism, it prevails.

7. We want to restore the World Trade Center by rebuilding its Twin Towers as two 110-story or greater towers at least as atop Tower One.

We want the restored Twins to include: Fireproof ceramic polymer coatings; foam-based sprinkler systems; I-beams or cast reinforced concrete instead of trusses for floor support; rebar-reinforced concrete stairwells instead of drywall, chemical and biological agent sensors and building code compliance that far exceeds current NYC standards.


"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."

--Arthur C. Clarke