Posted on: Tuesday, February 4, 2003

COLUMBIA LOST
President to lead memorial service

By Tom Kenworthy
USA Today

President Bush will lead a memorial service at the Johnson Space Center in Houston today for the seven astronauts who perished aboard the space-shuttle Columbia.

The private ceremony will be open to family members of the astronauts, friends, invited guests, employees of NASA and the agency's contractors. It will begin at noon and be televised.

NASA officials predict as many as 14,000 people will attend the outdoor service, which will be piped into the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, where a memorial is scheduled for Friday.

The services will honor astronauts Rick Husband; William McCool; Michael Anderson; Kalpana Chawla; David Brown; Laurel Clark; and Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli to travel to space.

Yesterday, the families of the shuttle crew members spoke of their loved ones and urged that their mission continue.

Appearing on NBC's "Today," Evelyn Husband, whose husband was the shuttle commander, read a statement from the astronauts' families:

"On January 16th we saw our loved ones launch into a brilliant, cloud-free sky. Their hearts were full of enthusiasm, pride in country, faith in their God and a willingness to accept risk in the pursuit of knowledge — knowledge that might improve the quality of life for all mankind.

"Although we grieve deeply, as do the families of Apollo I and Challenger before us, the bold exploration of space must go on. Once the root cause of this tragedy is found and corrected, the legacy of Columbia must carry on for the benefit of our children and yours."