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.

FMI: www.nasa.gov