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BUSH'S REMARKS `For these 7 it was a dream fulfilled'
By Associated Press, 2/5/2003
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. . . . 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.''. . . 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.'' . . . 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.''. . . 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.. . . 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,'' 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. . . . 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. . . . 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. . . . 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. May God bless you all.
This story ran on page A12 of the Boston Globe on 2/5/2003.
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© Copyright 2003 New York Times Company |
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