Comments by William Readdy at the Columbia Memorial Ceremony 1 February 2008

Remarks by William Readdy at the Astronaut Memorial on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of the loss of the STS-107 crew and the Space Shuttle ‘Columbia’, 1 February 2008

It’s been five years since we were gathered not far from here alongside the runway at the Shuttle Landing Facility. Sometimes it seems like it was just yesterday. All of us were anxiously awaiting Columbia’s triumphant return from a highly successful sixteen-day microgravity mission and a joyous reunion with loved ones and friends. A reunion that was not to be — no matter how hard we hoped and prayed it might be otherwise…

They are memorialized here along with seventeen others who paid the ultimate sacrifice in the quest to explore the unknown. They are memorialized in many other places around the country and the world, Arlington National Cemetery, Spokane, Amarillo, Annapolis, Karnal, India, and Tel Aviv, Israel, East Texas – and even on the planet Mars.

And, just last night the school board in Arlington, Virginia voted to name their planetarium for Columbia astronaut Dave Brown. But much more importantly, though, far beyond any physical monument, they are memorialized in our hearts.

In the Book of Ecclesiastes, it says there is a time to mourn and a time to weep. Today, five years since the tragic loss of our loved ones, friends and colleagues aboard the Columbia, it is a time to listen to our hearts, a time to remember, and a time to reflect. It is a time to look back and learn from the past, but also a time to look forward to the future.

They inspired a generation of children from around the world to learn more and to be more.

Their sacrifice caused us to stop and question what we were doing and why we were doing it that way. They caused us to question just where we were going, and to what end. Their legacy is a vision for space exploration. A vision to transform age-old dreams into tomorrow’s reality.

Age-old dreams – since the earliest humans stared up at the starry heavens. The quest to know and understand the world around us. The inherent human need to explore.

Tomorrow’s reality – visions of exploring again beyond low earth orbit, building scientific outposts on the Moon, and in decades to come, on to Mars.

I suspect that the Columbia crew must be watching with pride at the accomplishments of the past five years. The renewed diligence, discipline and care of the space flight team. The returning the space shuttle to safe flight. The building and maintaining the ISS.

They’re undoubtedly looking over the shoulders of the shuttle and station EVA crews as they accomplish such amazing feats. Each mission, each expedition bringing Int’l Space Station closer to completion and scientific utilization.

And without question they’re following the progress of the Constellation program. All vital stepping-stones on the pathway back to the Moon and eventually onward towards The Red Planet. “Why explore space?”, “Why risk so much?” The answer, is summed up in a quote that was Laurel Clark’s favorite by William Shedd: “A ship is safe in harbor, but that is not what ships are for.”

Not far from here on Pad 39A, another ship, the good ship Atlantis, mission STS-122 is poised for launch next week with her crew anxious to get underway, carrying with them a precious cargo — the dreams of the European nations and their laboratory, Columbus, which will continue and expand upon the long-duration, microgravity research conducted on STS-107 by the crew of Columbia. We are only now at the end of the beginning of the space age. As the namesake of this space center, John F. Kennedy once said, “Now is the time to take longer strides.”

So again, the questions, “Why explore space?”, “Why risk so much?” The answer, “For all of us to be sure, but more importantly, for the next generations of explorers who will follow.”

Rick, Willie, Mike, Kalpana, Dave, Laurel and Ilan, we will always miss your easy laughter and your smiling faces. God willing, five years from now, they’ll have even more to be proud of as we take still longer strides with ‘Constellation’ – back to the Moon and onward to Mars.

May God bless the crew of Columbia, God bless all of us gathered here today in their memory, and Godspeed, Atlantis!