WHITE HOUSE

Bush offers words of comfort

By Anne E. Kornblut, Globe Staff, 2/2/2003

ASHINGTON - Like Ronald Reagan before him, President Bush scrambled yesterday to give a personal response to a space shuttle tragedy, cutting short his weekend at Camp David to return to the White House for a live television address to the nation.

''The Columbia is lost. There are no survivors,'' Bush said, confirming what images broadcast on television had suggested for four hours.

Bush learned about the reentry crash from White House chief of staff Andrew H. Card, who told the president in person at Camp David.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld were also notified. Government officials quickly dismissed any possibility that terrorism could have played a role, saying the Columbia was flying too fast and too high to have come under attack.

In his four-minute remarks, delivered from a lectern in the Cabinet Room, Bush quoted the Bible, his eyes growing misty as he recited a passage from Isaiah: ''Lift your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these? He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.''

Bush continued: ''The same creator who names the stars also knows the names of the seven souls we mourn today. The crew of the shuttle Columbia did not return safely to Earth, yet we can pray that all are safely home.''

Full coverage of the crash  TODAY'S GLOBE NASA e-mails show worry over wing  PROFILES The crew of shuttle Columbia  GRAPHICS Shuttle Columbia statistics Columbia's final approach Map of shuttle debris area How a shuttle returns to Earth Debris strikes Columbia Keeping heat outside shuttle Focus on shuttle tiles Trouble in the left wing The private sector in space Spinoffs from space  MORE COVERAGE Deadly accidents in space program Timeline of Columbia's last flight Glossary of space shuttle terms  REALVIDEO | NECN.com | Help with video | Latest in the investigation Sen. Kennedy reacts to tragedy The future of shuttle program Searching for debris in Texas Debris leads to hospitalization John Glenn on the tragedy Radar captures falling debris NASA lowers flag to half-staff Witnesses heard a 'big bang' Profiles of the Columbia crew NASA official: 'A tragic day' Video clips require RealPlayer and Windows 98 or higher.  PHOTO GALLERIES Memorials to the astronauts Images from the mission  ON THE WEB Space shuttle Columbia About the mission (Needs Flash) Space shuttle reference manual Shuttle facts, activities, and history How the space shuttle lands Virtual tour of shuttle Columbia. Background on the Columbia NASA www.nasa.gov Space Shuttle Encyclopedia (unofficial site) www.shuttle.org  THE CHALLENGER DISASTER From the Globe archives: Challenger explodes Profiles of crew members Final words of crew Profile of Christa McAuliffe

On Jan. 28, 1986, President Reagan faced a similar tragedy when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded upon takeoff with seven people on board. And on Jan. 27, 1967, President Lyndon B. Johnson mourned the loss of three Apollo astronauts killed in an accident on the ground.

Both Reagan and Johnson promised to continue the space program despite its risks, a pledge Bush repeated.

''The cause in which they died will continue,'' Bush said. ''Mankind is led into the darkness beyond our world by the inspiration of discovery and the longing to understand. Our journey into space will go on.''

Some space analysts have publicly questioned Bush's commitment to the space program in the past, especially after his decision to name Sean O'Keefe, a Defense Department veteran with no aeronautical experience, as the administrator of NASA.

But more recently, O'Keefe has said that Bush is planning a sizable increase in NASA's fiscal 2004 budget over its existing funding. One report in Florida said the Bush budget will allot more funding for nuclear power-generating technology that can propel spacecraft deep into space.

Bush was moved by the accident yesterday. He called the families of the astronauts and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to convey condolences for the loss of the first Israeli astronaut in space.

''Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more,'' he said.

Reagan's address after the shuttle explosion became a hallmark of his presidency. The speech was written especially for the schoolchildren who had tuned in to watch the first teacher, Christa McAuliffe, go into space and instead witnessed the disaster.

Reagan canceled his State of the Union address, scheduled for that night, to speak on the accident from the Oval Office.

His most memorable remarks, crafted by speechwriter Peggy Noonan, quoted a sonnet by John Gillespie Magee Jr., a US airman killed during World War II.

''We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them - this morning, as they prepared for their journey, and waved goodbye, and `slipped the surly bonds of earth' to `touch the face of God,''' Reagan said.

Johnson's reaction to the 1967 Apollo fire was more muted.

He issued a statement that read: ''Three valiant young men have given their lives in the nation's service. We mourn this great loss and our hearts go out to their families.''

This story ran on page A20 of the Boston Globe on 2/2/2003.
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