"To this day, I have this lump in my gut that says 'how did you
let this happen, what should you have done to prevent this' -- and
I know you feel that way, too."
Those words from Johnson Space Center director Jefferson Howell at
a memorial Friday for the seven astronauts lost aboard the space
shuttle Columbia February 1st, 2003. It was a somber, sometimes
tearful remembrance for about a thousand people at JSC. Flags at
both the Johnson and Kennedy Space Centers flew at half-mast to
remember Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson,
Kalpana Chawla, David M. Brown, Laurel B. Clark and Israel's first
man in space, Ilan Ramon.