Doug Hurley: We spent a lot of time together.

Bob: Multiple hours every day. We were learning the same things at the same time, and you build unique bonds with people as you go through that. For instance, the first time you do a cross-country [flight] in a NASA T-38 airplane, you do that together.

Doug: When you first show up, you're called an astronaut candidate, or an ASCAN. During those roughly two years of ASCAN training, Bob and I got pretty close. It's just like anything else—you gravitate to certain people. And we flew a lot together in T-38s.

Once we were done with our initial astronaut-candidate training, we went off into the astronaut office, which supported several different programs. At that time, we had the Space Shuttle program. We were both assigned to the same job—Cape Crusaders, which meant we would spend a lot of time in Florida supporting shuttle countdown tests and shuttle launches. We spent a whole bunch of time together, and I got to the point where I thought, Hey, maybe this guy isn't so bad. In some ways it was a little bit forced. But we enjoyed each other's company. And we were really lucky because we actually spent time in the space shuttles, configuring them for flight and ultimately getting to strap the crews in before they launched. It was a great job.

Bob: We were just getting started, and it’s Bob and Doug turned loose on operating the space shuttle. You couldn't really do it by yourself, and there's a sense of trust that's kind of forced upon you—forced is the wrong word. But we were in a situation where we had to build a pretty strong relationship.

Doug and I were down at Kennedy and we lost a space shuttle. We were waiting on the end of the runway for it to come in. We went through that experience together, of losing the spacecraft and losing a crew. Nobody was in the same place that we were for that mission other than the two of us.

Beck: Was that the Columbia in 2003?

Bob: Yes. Correct.

Beck: Were you the only ones on that particular job that day or were there others with you?

Bob: On landing day, we were the two to catch the Columbia coming back. We would have gone in, met the crew, and got them out. That was our shift. It was actually Doug's lead. I was just down there to be his assistant.

Doug: We were the only two people on the runway. There's a whole convoy of vehicles and support people that are there to catch a space shuttle when it lands. Of course, when that didn't happen, Bob and I and some of the other more senior astronaut management types all went back to crew quarters. They also took the families of the astronauts back to crew quarters. We were all there together.

That was tough to deal with, but there was stuff to be done. We had to get a plan together to get the families back to Houston. They were staying down in Florida. Bob and I eventually had to pack everybody's stuff and get it ready to go. We flew back together to Houston, and the world knew by then what had happened. And then of course the funerals, the memorials, and the president coming to the Johnson Space Center—that first six months to a year were pretty challenging. We both did different things to support the recovery efforts. It was a long process to get through it.

Bob: I brought that up as an example to cover the spectrum [of our friendship]. I’ve seen Doug’s behavior at my wedding, I've seen Doug's behavior in an airplane, and we’ve worked together dealing with the aftermath of the worst thing you can imagine happening in our career field. I can predict his actions. He can predict mine. I can predict what's going to make him happy or sad. It'd be great if it was all positives that we've lived through together, but those other things we've had to overcome together make our relationship strong.