Bush Leads Tribute for Fallen Astronauts
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
HOUSTON — Three days after space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies over Texas, as many as 15,000 mourners stared into the heavens Tuesday in solemn tribute to the seven astronauts who died.
President Bush led the country in mourning the heroes who died aboard the ill-fated shuttle.
"Our nation shares in your sorrow and your pride," Bush told a gathering of thousands at a memorial service at NASA's Johnson Space Center. The astronauts' grieving families, friends, colleagues and political leaders were among those in attendance.
Earlier, Bush passed his handkerchief to fallen astronaut Rick Husband's son, who was crying. The child wiped his nose and gave the handkerchief back to Bush.
The other astronauts being mourned were: William McCool, Michael Anderson, Dr. Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Dr. Laurel Clark and Israeli Col. Ilan Ramon.
Bush bowed his head in mourning and first lady Laura Bush wiped tears as the men and women who perished in the space shuttle disaster were memorialized at the home of Mission Control. The shuttle broke up Saturday as it was returning to Earth, just 16 minutes before it was expected to land at Cape Canaveral, Fla.
"Each of these astronauts had the daring and the discipline required of their calling," Bush said. "Each of them knew great endeavors are inseparable with great risk, and each of them accepted those risks willingly, even joyfully, in the cause of discovery."
"America's space program will go on," Bush declared in the outdoor ceremony, held beneath a clear blue sky and a few wisps of white clouds.
Thousands of people bunched together on a mass of green lawn stretching more than 200 yards from the white, square-shaped building that houses Mission Control to a series of engineering buildings and the headquarters here.
"All mankind is in their debt," Bush said of the fallen astronauts as members of his audience sniffed and wiped tears from their eyes.
The memorial service opened with an invocation by a Navy rabbi and the singing of the hymn, "God of Our Fathers."
Sean O'Keefe, NASA's administrator, said the bond between those who go into space and those on the ground "is incredibly strong. Today, our grief is overwhelming."
"We also have a tremendous duty to honor the legacy of these fallen heroes by finding out what caused the loss of the Columbia and its crew, to correct the problems we find and to make sure that this never happens again," O'Keefe said.
The president and first lady were accompanied on Air Force One here by Neil Armstrong, the first astronaut to walk on the moon. Former senator and astronaut John Glenn and his wife, Annie, also were on the board along with O'Keefe and a delegation of congressional figures.
"It's too bad we couldn't have pushed this day back forever," lamented Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth.
NASA estimated the crowd gathering in a plaza known at the Mall here at between 10,000 and 15,000. Mourners spilled beyond the square and crowded around a pond. They stood among the trees and on the lawns -- waiting to hear the presidential eulogy.
"He's the leader of our country, and his being here wasn't necessary, but it does show we are mourning," said Rochelle Pritchard, a NASA contract worker who helps manufacture robotic flight control gear.
The memorial service had a personal dimension for Pritchard, who said she attended Texas Tech with shuttle Cmdr. Husband.
"He was just the greatest guy -- always smiling, always approachable," she said.
Laura Lucier, an employee of the Canadian space agency who is based at Johnson Space Center, said that passion for space exploration drew workers here and gave the memorial service deeper meaning.
"There's nobody who works at NASA who isn't passionate about it," Lucier said. "When workers are lost, it means a lot more. You work here because you love it, not because it's a paycheck."
The impact of the Columbia's loss was felt well outside the space center's gates. Flags flew at half-staff throughout the region. The sign at a fast-food restaurant just outside Johnson's gates read, "Our prayers to our NASA family."
The White House drew inspiration from President Reagan, who delivered one of the most eloquent speeches of his presidency after the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
"Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short," Reagan said on Jan. 31, 1986, to a crowd of 10,000 at Johnson. "But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Raw Data: Text of Bush Memorial Address
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
A text of President Bush's remarks at a memorial service for the Columbia astronauts on Tuesday, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks Inc.:
Their mission was almost complete and we lost them so close to home. The men and women of the Columbia had journeyed more than 6 million miles and were minutes away from arrival and reunion. The loss was sudden and terrible, and for their families the grief is heavy.
Our nation shares in your sorrow and in your pride.
We remember not only one moment of tragedy, but seven lives of great purpose and achievement.
To leave behind Earth and air and gravity is an ancient dream of humanity. For these seven it was a dream fulfilled. Each of these astronauts had the daring and discipline required of their calling.
Each of them knew that great endeavors are inseparable from great risk. And each of them accepted those risks willingly, even joyfully, in the cause of discovery.
Rick Husband was a boy of four when he first thought of being an astronaut. As a man and having become an astronaut, he found it was even more important to love his family and serve his Lord.
One of Rick's favorite hymns was "How Great Thou Art," which offers these words of praise: "I see the stars. I hear the mighty thunder. Thy power throughout the universe displayed."
David Brown was first drawn to the stars as a little boy with a telescope in his backyard. He admired astronauts, but as he said: "I thought they were movie stars. I thought I was kind of a normal kid."
David grew up to be a physician, an aviator who could land on the deck of a carrier in the middle of the night and a shuttle astronaut. His brother asked him several weeks ago, what would happen if something went wrong on their mission? David replied, "This program will go on."
Michael Anderson always wanted to fly planes and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Air Force. Along the way, he became a role model, especially for his two daughters and for the many children he spoke to in schools.
He said to them, "Whatever you want to be in life, you're training for it now."
He also told his minister, "If this think doesn't come out right, don't worry about me, I'm just going on higher."
Laurel Salton Clark was a physician and a flight surgeon who loved adventure, loved her work, loved her husband and her son. A friend who heard Laurel speaking to mission control said, "There was a smile in her voice."
Laurel conducted some of the experiments as Columbia orbited the Earth and described seeing new life emerge from a tiny cocoon. "Life," she said, "continues in a lot of places, and life is a magical thing."
None of our astronauts traveled a longer path to space than Kalpana Chawla. She left India as a student, but she would see the nation of her birth, all of it, from hundreds of miles above.
When the sad news reached her hometown, an administrator at her high school recalled, "She always said she wanted to reach the stars." She went there and beyond.
Kalpana's native country mourns her today and so does her adopted land.
Ilan Ramon also flew above his home, the land of Israel. He said, "The quiet that envelops space makes the beauty even more powerful, and I only hope that the quiet can one day spread to my country."
Ilan was a patriot, the devoted son of a Holocaust survivor, served his country in two wars.
"Ilan," said his wife Rona, "left us at his peak moment, in his favorite place, with people he loved."
The Columbia's pilot was Commander Willy McCool, whom friends knew as the most steady and dependable of men. In Lubbock today, they're thinking back to the Eagle Scout who became a distinguished naval officer and a fearless test pilot.
One friend remembers Willy this way, "He was blessed, and we were blessed to know him."
Our whole nation was blessed to have such men and women serving in our space program. Their loss is deeply felt, especially in this place where so many of you called them friends, the people in NASA are being tested once again.
In your grief, you are responding as your friends would have wished, with focus, professionalism and unbroken faith in the mission of this agency.
Captain Brown was correct, America's space program will go on. This course of exploration and discovery is not an option we choose. It is a desire written in the human heart where that part of creation seeks to understand all creation.
We find the best among us, send them forth into unmapped darkness and pray they will return. They go in peace for all mankind, and all mankind is in their debt.
Yet, some explorers do not return, and the law settles unfairly on a few.
The families here today shared in the courage of those they loved, but now they must face life and grief without them. The sorrow is lonely, but you are not alone.
In time, you will find comfort and the grace to see you through. And in God's own time, we can pray that the day of your reunion will come.
And to the children who miss your mom or dad so much today, you need to know, they love you, and that love will always be with you.
They were proud of you, and you can be proud of them for the rest of your life.
The final days of their own lives were spent looking down upon this Earth, and now, on every continent, in every land they can see, the names of these astronauts is known and remembered.
They will always have an honored place in the memory of this country, and today, I offer the respect and gratitude of the people of the United States.
May God bless you all. |
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