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Text of Statement From Shuttle Families
AP ^ | February 3, 2003

Posted on 02/03/2003 7:14:27 AM PST by Indy Pendance

Statement from the families of Columbia's crew, read by Evelyn Husband, wife of shuttle Cmdr. Rick Husband on NBC's "Today":

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.

Columbia's 16-day mission of scientific discovery was a great success, cut short by mere minutes. Yet it will live on forever in our memories. We want to thank the NASA family and people from around the world for their incredible outpouring of love and support.

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.


TOPICS: Breaking News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 02/03/2003 7:14:27 AM PST by Indy Pendance
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To: Indy Pendance
God bless them...
2 posted on 02/03/2003 7:15:23 AM PST by Damocles (Tag. Your it...)
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To: Indy Pendance
They sound as brave as their lost love ones. May God bless them and ease their pain.
3 posted on 02/03/2003 7:20:18 AM PST by smith288
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To: Indy Pendance
Wow.

Can anbody doubt that we have been forever changed?
4 posted on 02/03/2003 7:20:30 AM PST by gridlock (Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue)
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To: Damocles
I would not have expected anything less. Let us all remember this.
5 posted on 02/03/2003 7:25:56 AM PST by CasearianDaoist
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To: smith288
I have been tremendously impressed with all the family members who have spoken publicly. They are as heroic as the ones who were lost.

On a side note. Laurel Clark was a classmate of mine (Horlick High School Class of '79). I have no recollection of her. Even seeing her yearbook pictures do not evoke a memory. How weird is that?

6 posted on 02/03/2003 7:27:26 AM PST by Trust but Verify
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To: Trust but Verify
How big was your class? Mine was like, 300 or something so I would recognize most if not all... (even the nerds!)
7 posted on 02/03/2003 7:29:44 AM PST by smith288
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To: smith288
The class was well over 500. She and I went to different junior high's so that is probably why we didn't know one another.
8 posted on 02/03/2003 8:04:25 AM PST by Trust but Verify
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To: Trust but Verify
600 kids in my class. I spent most of my time working or with my brothers (who went to a different high school.) I know very few of them.

My college had about 2,000 students. I knew, on site, about 3/4 of them. Go figure.
9 posted on 02/03/2003 8:06:49 AM PST by Vermont Lt
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To: Indy Pendance
My prayers are with them.
10 posted on 02/03/2003 8:23:11 AM PST by headsonpikes
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To: Trust but Verify
She was an amazing individual..very impressive...in today's NY Post...they had brief quotes from all the astronausts, taken from news conferences they gace in the weeks before take off....her comment, in response to a reporter's aking her about things that could go wrong, was ( and I'm paraphrasing..."every day in our lives there are things that can hurt us. I chose NOT to let them influence my ations.."

My prediction.....the Seals will make her an honorary memnber....

11 posted on 02/03/2003 8:29:42 AM PST by ken5050
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To: ken5050
In gratitude and honor for their sacrifice and the continued sacrifice of their families...
12 posted on 02/03/2003 10:38:44 AM PST by Hamilton2
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To: Indy Pendance
Call me insensitive - but!: Its a shame when astronauts, American, and others, lost their life pursuing a very dangerous occupation.

They chose to do this, they were highly paid and received lots of attention. No doubt, their families will receive substantial insurance benefits, and as little commercial insurance would be available, we as taxpayers pay their benefits. Then there will be the book deals.

I'm getting tired of the media gushing over this accident, and its victims endlessly.

I really feel sorrow for the poor son of a bitch that is squatting over his latrine in 10 degree Afganistan, or whereever the military assigns them, to get in constant harms' way 24/7, never knowing when its your turn to get hit.

Where's the media when the phone call is made to the family who just lost their provider; whose's wife just got home from shopping with food stamps; who will be kicked out of base housing because she's no longer a dependent.

Just move along, nothing to see here!

13 posted on 02/03/2003 11:31:31 AM PST by aShepard
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To: aShepard
You're not insensitive. You make some good points. I guess it's just a fact that Americans revere astronauts a great deal. We honor our military as well, but for some reason we take the loss of astronauts harder than we do the loss of a grunt in the military. Could be worse though. We probably take the loss of a drug addled rock star out of proportion to our servicemen as well.
14 posted on 02/03/2003 11:54:22 AM PST by Huck
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To: Indy Pendance
"High Flight"

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr.

15 posted on 02/03/2003 12:11:54 PM PST by onedoug
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To: aShepard
Just move along, nothing to see here!

No. You're wrong. Yes, they KNEW what they were doing was dangerous, but doggone it.....life IS dangerous. Our kids (AND we adults) NEED heroes!!!!! What is wrong with that??? Come on, this is America. We do things different here. We're the (ok, this is gonna sound hokie)...Land of the Free, the Land of the Brave...I personally hope they get their answers, real fast-like, and MOVE FORWARD!

< /rant>

16 posted on 02/03/2003 1:07:35 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma
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To: aShepard
Actually, you are wrong. It was reported today that most of the astronauts had no insurance, because they were uninsurable due to the riskiness of their jobs.

Grieving over the loss of these astronauts doesn't denigrate the sacrifice of the grunts. Your rant sounds suspiciously like "why spend money going to outer space when there are poor folks at home?"

The reason we revere these people is because they embody the boldness of the American spirit. It is for other countries to be cautious; it is for ours to be brave. And being picked to be in the astronaut training program is highly select. These folks (with the exception of Dr. Chawla) were all military to start out with, they were selected for this. These were the best and the brightest, and how you can fail to see the tragedy in their loss is beyond me. We grieve for them as individuals, but also for the loss of what they represent.

Ad astra per aspera.

17 posted on 02/03/2003 3:06:21 PM PST by austinTparty
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To: austinTparty
Please read my post once again, before you invoke further critisism.

I agree that astronauts had little commercial insurance - couldn't get it because of hazardous occupation.

Our grunts also cannot get insurance due to war exclusion provisions.

Astronauts are brave because they seek the hazards of their profession. Sometimes they lose!

Grunts are brave because they do what they do to keep us free and alive. Sometimes they lose.

Would my family be better off as the family of a dead grunt, or of an astronaut? Would my future be a lot better off as family of an astronaut, or a grunt.

As the wife of a grunt, do I get any special recognition for what my husband sacrificed his life for? Does the president of the United States console me?

As an astronaut's wife, am I forced to cry by myself, without the world calling me and my husband heroes? As a grunt, do I return from war to cheers, or to boo's? Yeah, I'm insensitive: So much so that the continuing thoughts of 9/11, and of the sacrifice that our military has made over the years, and today, and tomorrow, brings tears to my eyes because I am, and we are - free.

This isn't because some brave astronauts died; it's because all of our families have benefitted over 200 years for what we as a nation stand for, what we have sacrificed family members for.

I'm not equating spending money for exploring space or the depths of the ocean, with spending money for the poor folks at home.

I'm for recognizing human sacrifice for it's benefit to mankind, and America.

Gushing wall to wall media coverage about lost explorers, while basically ignoring our veterans after the six o'clock news is just wrong. Gawking at the 55 year old guys riding in their electric wheelchairs on the streets of America, with their limbs blown off, is not checking out some type of a freak show. They too wish that they wculd have died in some foreign jungle. Died for peace; for freedom; for the rest of us.

Sorry, I'm insensitive; the astronauts don't live up to that ideal

18 posted on 02/03/2003 6:46:56 PM PST by aShepard
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To: aShepard
Feck off ya Bollicks.
19 posted on 02/03/2003 6:51:40 PM PST by ARA
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