| Today, February 1, 2003, America saw another great tragedy unfold. The Columbia was at an altitude of 200,700 feet over north-central Texas at a 9 a.m., traveling at 12,500 mph when mission control lost contact and tracking data. NASA, which had been expecting the shuttle to land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, did not immediately confirm the disaster but was planning a news conference later in the day. Across Texas and New Mexico, explosions were reported to local law enforcement authorities and news agencies and search and rescue teams fanned out over a wide area to investigate reports of debris. Most of the wreckage apparently landed in an area of many thousands of square miles between Waco and the Louisiana border. In Dallas, NBC News’ Jim Cummins reported that a loud explosion was heard at about the same time NASA lost contact with the spacecraft — a time when the shuttle was flying at 200,700 feet, traveling at 12,500 mph. Soon after that, witnesses described seeing the Columbia disintegrating in flames along the way. This page is to pay our respects to the seven crew members that lost their lives. Our hearts, prayers and sincere condolances to the families, husbands, wives, children and Nasa Extended Family members. The world mourns with you. God Bless all of you. |
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| Crew departing their quarters for the launch |
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| Commander Rick Husband, 45, Air Force colonel from Amarillo, Texas. The former test pilot was selected as an astronaut in 1994 on his fourth try. He made up his mind as a child that that was what he was going to do with his life. "It's been pretty much a lifelong dream and just a thrill to be able to get to actually live it out," he said in an interview before Columbia's launch, his second spaceflight. |
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| Pilot William McCool, 41, Navy commander from Lubbock, Texas, and father of three sons. He graduated second in his 1983 class at the Naval Academy, went on to test pilot school and became an astronaut in 1996. This was his first spaceflight. |
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| Payload commander Michael Anderson, 43, the son of an Air Force man who grew up on military bases. He was flying for the Air Force when NASA chose him in 1994 as one of only a handful of black astronauts. He traveled to Russia's Mir space station in 1998. The lieutenant colonel was in charge of Columbia's dozens of science experiments. His home is in Spokane, Wash. |
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| Kalpana Chawla, 41, emigrated to United States from India in 1980s and became an astronaut in 1994. She was in charge of more than a dozen experiments onboard the Columbia, but she was in love with the poetry of space travel as much as the science. “In the pre-sleep period, when you’re looking out the window, you’re floating,” she said, describing her one previous trip in space. “The Nile River looks like a lifeline in the Sahara ... Earth is very beautiful. I wish everyone could see it.” |
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| David Brown, 46, a Navy captain, pilot and doctor. He joined the Navy after a medical internship, went on to fly the A-6E Intruder and F-18. He became an astronaut in 1996. Columbia's mission was his first spaceflight. |
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| Laurel Clark, 41, a Navy diving medical officer aboard submarines, then flight surgeon who became an astronaut in 1996. On board Columbia to help with science experiments. Has 8-year-old son. Her home is in Racine, Wis. |
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| Ilan Ramon, 48, a colonel in Israel's air force and the first Israeli in space. His mother and grandmother survived Auschwitz death camp. Father fought for Israel's statehood alongside grandfather. Ramon fought in Yom Kippur War 1973 and Lebanon War 1982. He served as a fighter pilot 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, flew F-16s and F-4s. He was chosen as Israel's first astronaut in 1997, then moved to Houston the next year to train for shuttle flight. His wife and four children live in Tel Aviv |
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| "Seven New Angels" February first, two thousand and three, as returning to Earth, a shuttle was lost. Two women and five men, lost in the debris, realizing their dreams, but paying a high cost. A very sad day, for families and friends, of two women and five men, living their dreams. Sailing the heavens, till the trip suddenly ends, as mighty explosions, thru the sky streams. In Heaven now, seven new angels reside, two women and five men, their lives have been taken. For their life long dreams, they lived and died, and now a whole world, by this tragedy is shaken. The entire world weeps, and is in despair, for two women and five men, who traveled in space, All the joy and wonders, that together they share, they now share with each other, in God's Heavenly Grace. ~written by Frank J. Hornsby~ |
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| Last Picture From Shuttle Columbia |
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