Text of Eulogy Delivered at KSC by Capt. Robert Crippen,
Columbia's First Pilot
We are gathered here this morning to honor and salute the
Columbia crew of Mission STS-107. The grief in the hearts
of the crew's families and the entire NASA family, which includes
all of our contractor community, which supports the Agency, is very
heavy. Still, this crew lived lives that deserve our celebration.
Yes, they were cut short, but these brave men and women lived their
lives to the fullest doing much more in their time here on Earth
than many can imagine.

Words at a time like this seem weak. They don't fully
communicate the depth of our feelings. The NASA family speaks much
clearer with actions. The action that is being taken to find the
cause of the accident, correct it and continue the crew's journey
of discovery in space is the grandest tribute that we can pay to
them. I'm certain that is what they would have wanted.
It is fitting that we're gathered here on the Shuttle runway for
this event. As Sean (O'Keefe, NASA Administrator) said, it was here
last Saturday that family and friends waited anxiously to celebrate
with the crew their successful mission and safe return to Earth. It
never happened.
I'm sure that Columbia, which had traveled millions of
miles and made that fiery re-entry 27 times before struggled
mightily in those last moments to bring her crew home safely once
again. She wasn't successful.
Columbia was a fine ship. She was named after
Robert Gray's exploration ship, which sailed out of Boston Harbor
in the 18th Century. Columbia and the other orbiters are
all named after great explorer ships, for that is their mission, to
explore the unknown.
Columbia was hardly a thing of beauty except those of
us who loved and cared for her. She was often bad-mouthed for being
a little heavy on the rear end, but many of us can relate to that.
Many said she was old and past her prime. Still, she had only lived
barely a quarter of her designed life. In the Earth, she was only
twenty-two. Columbia had a great many missions ahead of
her. She, along with the crew, had her life snuffed out in her
prime.
I was here at this Shuttle runway in March of 1978 when
Columbia first arrived at the Kennedy Space Center. She
came in on the back of a 747 escorted by Deke Slayton in a T-38.
She certainly wasn't very pretty at that time; a large number of
her tiles had not been installed and many that had were not
adhering very well. KSC management made a fairly unpopular
statement at the time that it was going to take several years to
get her ready to fly. They were right.
Ready for launch by the loving care of the Kennedy team, the
same care they had given to all 28 of her flights, she was finally
ready to fly in April of 1981. John Young and I were privileged to
take her on that maiden flight. She performed magnificently. "The
world's greatest electric flying machine" was what John described
her as.
Because she was a little heavy, she didn't get
some of the more glamorous missions, but she was our leader in
doing science on orbit. Just as she was doing with this crew in
SPACEHAB on Mission STS-107, microgravity scientific exploration
was her bag. She carried SPACEHAB numerous times studying material
processing and life sciences, all of which were focused at giving
us a better life here on Earth.
Columbia also helped us better understand the heavens
and learn about the origins of the universe where several missions,
including Astro, also by deploying the most advanced X-ray
observatory ever built, the Chandra Space Telescope, and by our
very recent Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission. Just as her
crew has, Columbia has left us quite a legacy.
There is heavy grief in our hearts, which will diminish with
time, but it will never go away. And we won't ever forget. Hail
Rick, Willie, K.C., Mike, Laurel, Dave and Ilan. Hail
Columbia.