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Huntsville gathered together on Wednesday, February 5, 2003 to pay tribute to the brave Columbia STS-107 astronauts who gave their lives to further exploration of space.  The Crew of Columbia Space Shuttle were Commander Rick D. Husband (Colonel, USAF), Pilot William C. McCool (Commander, USN), Mission Specialist Michael P. Anderson (Lieutenant Colonel, USAF), Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D., Mission Specialist David Brown, M.D. (Captain, USN), Mission Specialist Laurel Blair Salton Clark, M.D. (Commander, USN), and  Payload Specialist Ilan Ramón (Colonel, Israel Air Force).

The service was presented by members of the church, the city, state and federal government and NASA officials.  Mayor Loretta Spencer, U.S. Representative Bud Cramer and Governor Bob Riley were all on hand to address the packed Concert Hall.  NASA officials included Teresa Washington, Director of Customer Relations at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), Art Stephenson, Director of MSFC here in Huntsville, Dr. Jan Davis, Astronaut and Director of Flight Projects Directorate, Courtney Stadd, NASA Chief of Staff and Mark Daniel, member of the NASA Advisory Council.  Each speaker noted how that "One NASA" had become more meaningful since the tragedy and how the space program should continue.

It was an awesome experience to sit in the Von Braun Civic Center and mourn with fellow Huntsvillians over so great a national loss. The mission of STS-107 was a multidiscipline micro-gravity and Earth science research mission in which a multitude of international scientific investigations were conducted on the 16 days of orbit.  Some of data from these experiments were transmitted back to NASA; most were lost.  We were remained that the crew did not die in vain.  This occasion was in stark contrast to 45 years ago in Huntsville when there was dancing in the streets when the Redstone Rocket was launched and catapulted the  USA into the space program.  "There is a strong bond between those who go into space and those who make it possible to go there."  Huntsville feels that bond and grieves over their and our nation's loss.

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©2002 Jean Brandau, licensed to About.com
Photo ©2002 Jean Brandau, licensed to About.com