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Final
Flight STS-107
Sixteen
minutes before the crew from the Columbia was to arrive safely
home to their friends and loved ones, something horrific went
wrong. We were out running errands when I heard on the radio
that the space shuttle Columbia was lost... they had lost contact
with it and there were problems with sensors. Shortly after
that announcement they came back on to let us know that it had disintegrated.
We immediately came home and turned on CNN to watch the news
reports and find out what in the world had happened. It
brought back many memories of when we lost the Challenger almost
17 years to the day, which was destroyed on take off on January
28th, 1986. My thoughts and prayers are with the friends and
families of the Columbia crew which consisted of six Americans and
one Israeli.
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Rick
D. Husband
Commander
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William
C. McCool
Pilot |
Michael
P. Anderson
Payload
Commander |
Kalpana
Chawla
Mission
Specialist |
David
M. Brown
Mission
Specialist |
Laurel
Clark
Mission
Specialist |
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Ilan
Ramon
Payload
Specialist |
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"The
same creator who names the stars also knows the
names of the seven souls we mourn today."
-George W. Bush, commenting on the loss of the space
shuttle Columbia and all of its crew (February 1, 2003)
High
Flight
Oh!
I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
John Gillespie Magee, Jr..
NASA
"Honoring
the Columbia Shuttle Crew" - Presidential Prayer Team's
memorial page
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