Shuttle crew added to U.S. space memorial
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The Columbia seven before their spaceflight
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) -- The names of the seven Columbia astronauts who died in February were added to a national memorial at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Tuesday.
The memorial is a mirror four stories high made of polished granite in which the names of U.S. astronauts who died in flight or during training are carved and illuminated by the sun.
The names of Rick Husband, William McCool, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, David Brown and Laurel Clark, all U.S. astronauts, and Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, were added to the memorial, joining the names of those who died in the 1986 Challenger disaster, the 1967 Apollo One fire and seven other astronauts who died while in training.
"The Columbia Seven are special and represent the best of all ... the best that the United States and Israel have to offer," said James Kennedy, the space center's director. "It is their memory that draws us to be better, to be safer and to be smarter than ever before."
Family representatives of all seven astronauts were on hand. Clark's husband, Jon Clark, said their names probably would not be the last added to the memorial.
"This memorial has many blank spots, and they will not go unfilled, because the destiny of mankind will come at some cost," said Clark. "We must decide, are we a space-fearing, or space-faring nation?"
NASA's shuttles have been grounded since Columbia disintegrated above Texas as it glided toward landing in Florida on February 1.
An independent panel appointed to find the tragedy's cause said the shuttle was doomed by loose insulation foam that struck its wing shortly after takeoff.
The panel blamed a NASA culture that, in its haste to get shuttles into space, ignored the problem despite warnings from its own people.
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Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
