Goddard Mourns the Loss of STS-107 Crew

Expressions of sympathy from Goddard community.

Shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven were suddenly lost on their return to Earth on Sat. Feb 1. Space Shuttle Columbia broke up over north central Texas with no survivors. The crewmembers included astronauts Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

The entire NASA agency feels the tragic loss. Center Director Al Diaz opened the Center Director 's Colloquium on Feb. 4 by sharing his thoughts after he first learned of the tragedy Saturday morning.

"I am proud of the way my colleagues and NASA's leadership have been acting and speaking about what happened. But what intrigues me the most is that there is something going on that is long overdue. There is a CONVERSATION going on, a very important and sometimes stimulating conversation about why WE, you and I and the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia, do what we do."

Mr. Diaz continued his remarks by bringing attention to the fact that NASA employees are driven by "vision, passion and courage." Vision he described as life - protecting it, improving it and extending it beyond; passion - for exploration and knowledge for science and education. In describing courage, Mr. Diaz said, "At Goddard, one of the biggest challenges we have is providing intellectual security for outrageous ideas. Many times we do find ourselves following the leadership of a scientist or technologist when our immediate reaction to what we heard is, 'You're going to do what?' And so it does take courage to do what we do here at Goddard."

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NASA 's Mission:
*To understand and protect our home planet
*To explore the Universe and search for life
*To inspire the next generation of explorers
…as only NASA can

For a further details of the NASA mission, go to: http://www.nasa.gov/bios/vision.html

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In observance and in celebration of marking a century of flight in 2003, Goddard News will feature historical NASA flight tidbits throughout the year.

For more information on the Centennial of Flight celebration events, go to: http://www.centennialofflight.gov/