Space Center workers pay tribute to Columbia astronauts

Space Center workers pay tribute to Columbia astronauts

Associated Press

Saturday, January 31, 2004

Houston — Johnson Space Center workers on Friday bowed their heads in silence and wiped away tears during a tribute to the seven astronauts who died during the space shuttle Columbia’s final mission last year.

They also vowed to honor their fallen colleagues by renewing their commitment to space exploration.

“This is exactly what this crew would have wanted us to do,” center director Jefferson Davis Howell Jr. told about 1,000 workers who gathered under cloudy skies. “Wouldn’t they be upset with us if we quit? Wouldn’t it be an insult to them if we gave up?”

A chunk of foam the size of a suitcase tore a hole in Columbia’s left wing 82 seconds after liftoff. The gap let in the searing gases of re-entry two weeks later as the orbiter returned home. The spaceship broke apart over Texas on Feb. 1, killing all aboard.

“I, like you, went through the terrible myriad of emotions: denial, horror, terrible grief, frustration, anger, guilt,” Howell said.

Despite those feelings, Howell said, workers did what had to be done, buried the dead and got back to work.

Workers at the center, where Mission Control is located, should use the crew’s example of “incredible courage, teamwork, total integrity, professional excellence, commitment to their purpose” as they continue their work, Howell said.

Workers bowed their heads during a moment of silence, and a recording of bells and the astronauts’ names were played: “Rick Husband . . . William McCool . . . Kalpana Chawla . . . David Brown . . . Michael Anderson . . . Laurel Clark . . . Ilan Ramon.”

Clark called Racine her hometown.

Thursday, National Aeronautics and Space Administration employees paused to remember 17 astronauts who died in three separate tragedies over the years.