Saturn's role in the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster

Transmuting Saturn - an astrological analysis

The second Discovery "Return to Flight" mission, STS-114, followed after the Columbia disaster. During this mission, astronaut Steve Robinson conducted a spacewalk to repair Discovery's heat shield. He rode the ISS robotic arm to the underside of the shuttle, removing two ceramic cloth gap fillers that were protruding from the tiled surface. In this photo, he aims the camera at himself.

The correct Saturn attitude makes the difference

In this example of applied astrology we examine how Saturn can be transmuted to save lives. We look at two space shuttle flights.

I realize this form of research-based astrology is not standard fare for NASA-type folks, but here's a layer or reality that's true whether you believe in it or not. In the same way that gravity existed before Newton named it.

• In the Columbia tragedy, the dangers of Saturn was not understood. Technicians on the ground asked to have a military satellite take a photo of the suspected damage, but this request was denied as the risk was deemed low.

• In the following flight, the Discovery crew understood the dangers and took action by applying “science” and “control” – two also-valid symbolisms of Saturn. By their action they moved the Saturn switch from the default value of "tragedy" to the "control" setting. Saturn itself doesn't care, as long as it is honored in the equation.

Astrology of Saturn's role in the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster

The loss of Columbia and all her crew gives us a clear example of how planetary symbolisms and planetary geometry work. The crew was unaware that a piece of foam had dislodged to blow a hole in the leading edge of the orbiter’s left wing – and even if they had known about it, they had no way to repair it. In this post we look at the astrology of Saturn's role in the Columbia Space Shuttle disaster.

Columbia First Flight Chart

In the Columbia natal chart we see two significant alignments.

Dangerous and fiery energies, such as those found in a rocket, are mitigated by the trines to Neptune, which symbolises longevity, health and safe passage. We also have an alignment that says successful and famous space technology - Jupiter, Uranus and Pallas.

Dangerous and fiery energy

The first alignment is based on an opposition between Pluto and the Sun, Mars and Venus. There needs to be fiery energy in the astrology of the launch of a spaceship, which is provided by the Sun, Mars and Pluto – Venus adds positive energy and joins things together – and then trines from Neptune to the Sun and Venus provides longevity: A powerful (Pluto and Mars) rocket (Sun) enjoying good luck (Venus) as well as longevity and safe passage (Neptune).

The complete vehicle assembly is called the Space Shuttle stack, consisting of the orbiter, the external tank, and two solid rocket boosters that later disconnect from the space shuttle itself. The bit of foam dislodged from the isolation of the external tank.

A successful space craft

The second alignment is based on a Pallas-Uranus opposition where Pallas is also trine Jupiter: a successful (Jupiter) and high-tech (Pallas) aircraft (Uranus).

Note: these symbolisms are research-based and may differ from mainstream astrology symbolisms. The first-flight chart of a rocket or a plane is their birth chart, just as the launch chart of a ship is its natal chart. In this kind of astrology we do not worry about signs and houses, only planetary symbolisms and their geometry.

Transits to the Neptune-Sun alignment

In this synastry chart, transiting Saturn is opposing natal Neptune - thereby disabling its energy of safe passage and longevity. From now on I will call synastry charts CACs, for Combined-Alignment-Charts.

On the day of the fatal launch, the transiting Saturn was opposing the natal Neptune, thereby negating the longevity supplied by Neptune. Transiting Saturn was also aspecting the natal Pluto, Sun, Venus and Mars – and this adds up to “really bad”.

The longevity-and-health energy provided by Neptune to the Sun was disabled by Saturn.

Transits to Columbia’s Jupiter-Pallas alignment

In this CAC we see how the chief astrological signature of accidents - Mars-Uranus clashes - was present on the day Columbia was launched for the last time. The connection to Pallas (technology) and Uranus (space flight) suggest there might be an accident that relates to space-flight technology problems.

The famous-and-successful space-technology natal alignment created by Jupiter, Pallas and Uranus was subjected to challenging transits by Mars, Pallas and Uranus at the time of the fatal launch.

The Mars-Uranus conjunction was exact to within one day – as was the Mars-Pallas opposition – and valid symbolism is massive (Uranus) fire (Mars) through an accident (Mars-Uranus clash of the day) and disrupted (Uranus square) space flight (Uranus) technology (Pallas).

The Pallas-Pallas square was exact to within one day and the Pallas-Uranus square was exact to just over one day. This symbolizes non-functional (square) space (Uranus) technology (Pallas).

The Mars-Uranus parallel in the declinations was exact to within two days. Mars-Uranus aspects, especially clashes, can symbolize violent (Mars) change (Uranus) – including accidents. It can also symbolize massive and famous (Uranus) fire (Mars).

The Discovery first flight chart

This alignment can be interpreted as an entity (Sun) of charismatic (Chiron) massive (Uranus) fire (Mars) and space flight (Uranus). It can also be interpreted as loss of life (Sun square Chiron) through massive fire.

The first flight chart for the Discovery Space Shuttle again shows the fiery Mars-based symbolism we saw for Columbia.

There’s a lot of tension in the conjuncted t-square created by the Sun, Chiron, Mars and Uranus, but because we have a conjunction, we can start with that as a positive and then just blend in the other symbolisms. We get an entity (Sun) that is a charismatic (Chiron) and powerful (Mars) spacecraft (Uranus). But yes, this is still a scary alignment as it can also signify a noteworthy (Chiron) spacecraft (Sun) of massive (Uranus) fire (Mars) - and there's little doubt this is exactly what goes on when these things take off.

The "start-with-the-conjunction" reasoning is one of those 80-20 rules, so there's a 20 percent risk that the negative energy of the Sun-Chiron square might take over - and the launch of a space shuttle is never free of risk.

Transits to the Sun-Uranus alignment

CAC: this conjuncted Grand Cross holds the potencial for massive, noteworthy accident and fire energy.

This alignment was transited by Uranus at the time of the Return to Flight launch, the second such launch that Discovery had taken part in. She was also the craft that resumed flight following the Challenger disaster.

The tense and scary transits served up by the slow-moving Uranus were not exact – with Uranus square Uranus being the closest at 16 days – but they signal “Caution” in red letters. We get noteworthy (Chiron) spacecraft (Uranus) of massive (Uranus) fire (Mars) - which can become a fiery accident in an instant.

Note: a Grand Cross like this is more stable than a t-square - the midpoints between the involved planets help to balance the stucture.

Discovery Super Success vehicle

We find an excellent alignment in Discovery’s first-flight chart – Jupiter is trine Mercury and Pluto sextiles both planets.

In Magi Astrology, an enhancement, such as a trine, between Jupiter and Pluto is called the “Super Success” aspect. We find a close cousin to this in Discovery’s first-flight chart. Discovery was a lucky (Jupiter) and powerful (Pluto) vehicle (Mercury) that twice managed to restore confidence in the space shuttle program after disaster – and you could certainly call her “super successful”.

This alignment symbolizes a successful and powerful exploration vehicle

Saturn threatens Discovery

CAC: transiting Saturn made clash aspects with Discovery's natal Jupiter and Pluto

At the time of the the Return to Flight mission launch, STS-114, transiting Saturn was clashing with both Jupiter and Pluto in Discovery’s natal chart. These are two of the absolutely worst transits you can have. The Saturn-Jupiter quincunx is known as a “Fallen Angel” transit and the Saturn-Pluto square is signaling the risk of massive losses, such as a Space Shuttle burning up.

Note: quincunxes that do not involve Saturn are positive aspects, but quincunxes that include Saturn are negative aspects.

Luckily, NASA was now considering the risk of heat shield damage and astronaut Steve Robinson conducted a spacewalk to remove loose material that was sticking out between the heat-shielding tiles on Discovery’s belly.

Discovery was docked to the ISS and Robinson rode the International Space Station’s robotic arm to the underside of the orbiter, where he conducted his “surgery”.

“It looks like this big patient is cured,” he said afterwards.

What NASA and Robinson had done was to transmute Saturn’s default value from “tragedy” by implementing “control” and “science”.

Discovery landed safely and is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.

The Space Shuttle “surgeon”

If astronaut Steve Robinson saved himself, Discovery and NASA from a tragic fate by conducting his spacewalk surgery, then it would make sense to see some powerful astrological alignments involving him and Discovery.

And this is exactly the case – Robinson was born on 26 October 1955 in Sacramento, California – and we find powerful alignments between him and Discovery’s first-flight chart, as well as between him and the Return to Flight launch on 26 July 2005.

Discovery's natal chart versus Steve Robinson

CAC: there were excellent astrological energies showing up between Discovery and Robinson

Here I need to clarify that valid symbolisms for Neptune include longevity, safe passage, true love, morals, ethics and much more. Neptune is a fantastic planet.

Robinson’s Jupiter-Pluto “Super Success” conjunction is trine the Discovery Neptune, as in “I will be super-successful and ensure the longevity of Discovery”.

His Uranus – which represents space travel, technology, aviation, industry, liberation, change, fame and innovation – is quincunx the Discovery Jupiter, creating a “Super Fame” alignment that also means success in technology, space travel and liberation (from the fate of death). The Discovery Pluto also connects to this alignment, making it more powerful and activating the super success energy of the natal chart.

Finally, his Sun and Neptune are conjunct the Discovery Pluto, even though they aren't conjunct one another since their orb is too wide at 4.5 degrees. Pluto thus “activated” the hidden long-term survival potential of the absent Sun-Neptune conjunction in Robinson’s chart. I call this “bridging” and it was also present when Sir Edmund Hillary climbed Mount Everest, in Hillary's case it was about the Sun, Jupiter and Pluto – day of Super Success in the declinations for climbing the world’s tallest mountain.

Here, Robinson’s Sun created a “person of power” with Discovery and his Neptune created “long-term power” with the Discovery Pluto.

The STS-114 launch chart

Fiery potential and space technology were showing up during the STS-114 launch

Here are some significant alignments in the Return to Flight chart that followed after the destruction of Columbia. Rocket launch charts are scary and this is no exception.

There’s a lot of risk sitting in the t-square formed by Saturn, Mars and Chiron: noteworthy (Chiron) destruction (Saturn) through violence or fire (Mars) – or extraordinary (Chiron) dominating and controlled (Saturn) use of energy (Mars). Note: the meanings for Mars here can include the effort made in science and control (Saturn) that NASA made to avoid the tragedy default of Saturn.

We are placated by the Pallas-Jupiter conjunction that is quincunx Uranus – this means successful (Jupiter) space and aviation (Uranus) technology (Pallas). This is an excellent alignment. In the declinations we again have the "massive fire" alignment, a contra-parallel between Mars and Uranus.

The STS-114 launch with astronaut Steve Robinson

Here we look only at how the dangerous Saturn-Mars-Chiron alignment interacts with Robinson’s planets. We find some amazing stuff.

In this CAC we see how Steve Robinson's astrological energies are balancing out the dangerous energy in the STS-114 launch chart. There could not be a better placement of his Jupiter-Pluto Super Success energy.

The first is that the STS-114 launch took place during the year of his Chiron return, which therefore also saw the risk he might succumb to “noteworthy destruction” and “loss of life” as the transiting Saturn of the launch opposed this Chiron as well.

This is a troublesome transit, but let’s look at how his energy affected STS-114 instead.

The very troublesome t-square created by Mars, Saturn and Chiron is aspected by Robinson’s Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Juno and Chiron.

These aspects consist of two transiting alignments: the Chiron-Uranus opposition; and the Jupiter, Pluto, Neptune and Chiron alignment; that is Uranus is at too-high a degree to take part in both alignments.

The symbolism of the Uranus-Saturn conjunction is fame (Uranus) as a scientist (Saturn) and with both Chiron included we get: Career (Chiron) as a noteworthy (Chiron) and famous scientist – Discovery, STS-114 and Robinson all got their deserved time in the limelight after this remarkable feat.

Robinson’s Jupiter-Pluto conjunction forms a Super Success aspect to the retrograding Return to Flight Chiron – and a Super Success trine to Mars. His Neptune is also part of the alignment and we get Super Success (Jupiter-Pluto) and longevity (Neptune) to the noteworthy (Chiron) rocket’s fiery energy (Mars). Also note that his Neptune is contraparallel the launch Mars and that his Jupiter is contraparallel the launch Chiron, which symbolizes longevity and safe passage (Neptune) to a rocket (Mars) and powerful energy for attaining your goals (Jupiter contra-parallel Chiron).

Conclusion

I was stunned when I first looked into the astrology of the Columbia disaster many years ago, but I haven't written about it until now. To my mind it shows the importance of taking "control" of the Saturn input in our lives - and that astrology can point to the timelines and areas of our lives where the danger is increased. It can be as simple as changing the worn-out tires of your car when winter is coming and you have a Saturn square Mercury transit. Identifying times of risk with this kind of astrology is easy.

Tragically, all the astronauts aboard Columbia had multiple dangerous Saturn transits to their natal charts at the time of the disaster.

I don't believe that NASA or any such similar organization will ever look into this form of research-based astrology, but when you have spent 30 years working with this form astrology there's no doubt whatsoever.

Or as the Magi Society said in their first book: "Astrology Really Works!"