Jessica Rye, B. Sc. 1996

Public Affairs Officer,
Kennedy Space Center

Houston, TX

By Shannon Dent, 2008

Jessica Rye was NASA’s primary spokesperson when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated on its reentry to earth Feb. 1,2003.

Space shuttle Columbia was scheduled to land at 9:16 a.m.

“I was at the landing site where media and crew families wait,” Jessica said.

“I was running around answering questions because Columbia was supposed to land in 15 minutes then my co-worker looked at me and said we had lost communication with Columbia.”

The landing site is 15,000 feet from where the shuttle lands. It separates the media from crewmembers’ families by a white picket fence.

“My primary concern was trying to get the astronauts to their families,” Jessica said. “I did an interview as quickly as possible to relay there was, in fact, a problem with the shuttle.”

A 1996 public relations graduate of Florida State University, Jessica remembers she felt it was her responsibility to share the truth about what was happening to the families.

“The public relations program at FSU is very well known which lends tremendous professional credibility as a practitioner,” Jessica said. “FSU provided a strong foundation for my career with NASA.”

In times of distress, it was very important to remember the “little things” that Jessica’s exceptional professors taught her at FSU.

“The most compelling thing was seeing the children of the astronauts running and playing,” Jessica said softly.

“The landing was supposed to be an exciting time. In an instant their entire lives were changed forever and it is something that you can never imagine.”

Jessica said that she could not show emotion as a spokesperson until weeks later because “it was all about doing the right thing at the right time.”

Jessica immediately used her knowledge and training of public relations to prepare news releases and press conferences. She knew she had to be “proactive” about disseminating the information to the public.

In the days that followed the disaster that killed all seven crew members, healing began with memorial services for the crew.

“At the Kennedy Space Center they had a missing man formation which means that airplanes fly in formation and then one breaks off toward the sky,” Rye said.

“I looked over and saw those big, intelligent astronauts in tears. It truly was a family affair when it came to the space business.”

NASA recovered 40 percent of Columbia and reconstructed it to see what happened on that tragic day.

“I saw this amazing space shuttle and all the technology that went into making it possible,” Rye said. “Then I saw it in pieces. It was incredibly surreal. We felt like Columbia was finally home.”