Expressing Condolences Of The House To The Families Of The Crew Of The Space Shuttle ``Columbia''
Mr. Speaker, our Nation and the entire world mourn the passing of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. They were brave individuals committed to challenging the limits of our knowledge and to the advancement of humanity. These brave…
Mr. Speaker, our Nation and the entire world mourn the passing of the crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia. They were brave
individuals committed to challenging the limits of our knowledge and to the advancement of humanity. These brave souls have left us, but their spirit will remain forever.
Our Nation will always remember these heroes--Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, Payload Commander Michael P. Anderson, Mission Specialist David M. Brown, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist Laurel Blair Salton Clark, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon. I ask the Almighty to guard the souls of these greatest examples of humanity, and that they be loved and remembered with the deepest of gratitude and admiration for their dedication to advancing our understanding of the universe and discovering ways that science can improve our lives.
Thanks to missions like that of the Space Shuttle Columbia, we live, you might say, in a completely different universe than we did a generation ago, and our children will live in a totally different universe in their adulthood than we do now. We forge this path of progress from the sacrifices of brave souls like the crew of the Columbia. It is at times of grief that we find the higher purpose in our lives--our faith in God, love of family, and a dedication to the advancement of humanity.
We find ourselves conflicted by the pain of losing some of the greatest examples of humanity and overcoming our fear of breaking from the shell of our known universe and receiving with open arms the wealth of knowledge that awaits us. In the end, we must surrender to our scientific impulse and our restless, altogether human curiosity about the physical universe. We are incapable of nothing, and, like the universe and the love in our hearts, our future is without limits.