January 6, 2004
Space Shuttle
Columbia Crew Memorialized on Mars
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe today announced
plans to name the landing site of the Mars Spirit rover in honor
of the astronauts who died in the tragic accident of the Space
Shuttle Columbia in February. The area in the vast flatland of
the Gusev Crater where Spirit landed this weekend will be called
the Columbia Memorial Station.
Plaque on Spirit Honors Columbia
Astronauts
Click
for larger image
Courtesy NASA/JPL
Since its historic landing, Spirit has
been sending extraordinary images of its new surroundings on
the red planet over the past few days. Among them, an image of
a memorial plaque placed on the spacecraft to Columbia's astronauts
and the STS-107 mission.
The plaque is mounted on the back of Spirit's
high-gain antenna, a disc-shaped tool used for communicating
directly with Earth. The plaque is aluminum and approximately
six inches in diameter. The memorial plaque was attached March
28, 2003, at the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility at NASA's
Kennedy Space Center, Fla. Chris Voorhees and Peter Illsley,
Mars Exploration Rover engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif., designed the plaque.
"During this time of great joy for
NASA, the Mars Exploration Rover team and the entire NASA family
paused to remember our lost colleagues from the Columbia mission.
To venture into space, into the unknown, is a calling heard by
the bravest, most dedicated individuals," said NASA Administrator
Sean O'Keefe." As team members gazed at Mars through Spirit's
eyes, the Columbia memorial appeared in images returned to Earth,
a fitting tribute to their own spirit and dedication. Spirit
carries the dream of exploration the brave astronauts of Columbia
held in their hearts."
Spirit successfully landed on Mars Jan.
3. It will spend the next three months exploring the barren landscape
to determine if Mars was ever watery and suitable to sustain
life. Spirit's twin, Opportunity, will reach Mars on Jan. 25
to begin a similar examination of a site on the opposite side
of the planet.
Source: NASA/JPL
press release
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