Bob Crippen on Columbia

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 were all named after great explorer ships, because that is their mission, to explore the unknown.

Columbia was hardly a thing of beauty, except to those of us who loved and cared for her. She was often bad-mouthed for being a little heavy in 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 design life; in years, she was only 22. 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 the 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 the 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.

Readied for launch by the loving care of the Kennedy team, the same care that they’ve given to all 28 of her flights, she was finally ready to fly in April 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 bit 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 science exploration was her bag. She carried Spacelab numerous times, studying materials processing, life sciences, all of which were focused on giving us a better life here on Earth.

Columbia also helped us better understand about the heavens and understand the origins of the universe with several missions, including Astro, also deploying the most advanced X-ray observatory ever built, the Chandra X-ray telescope; and by her very recent Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Just as the crew has, Columbia has left us quite a legacy.

There’s heavy grief in our hearts, which will diminish in time, but it will never go away and we will never forget. Hail Rick, Willie, K.C., Mike, Laurel, David, and Ilan. Hail Columbia.

-from NASA’s STS-107 memorial service, February 7, 2003