George W. Bush, 43rd United States president

“My fellow Americans…At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia…The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors. On board was a crew of seven: Colonel Rick Husband; Lt. Colonel Michael Anderson; Commander Laurel Clark; Captain David Brown; Commander William McCool; Dr. Kalpana Chawla; and Ilan Ramon, a Colonel in the Israeli Air Force…These astronauts knew the dangers, and they faced them willingly, knowing they had a high and noble purpose in life. Because of their courage and daring and idealism, we will miss them all the more.” (From the presidential address, Feb. 1, 2003)

Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon reentering the Earth’s atmosphere, Feb. 1, 2003