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AMSAT > SAT 11.01.04 04:10l 46 Lines 2166 Bytes #999 (0) @ AMSAT
BID : ANS-11.01
Read: GUEST
Subj: Space Shuttle Columbia Crew Memorialized On Mars
Path: DB0FHN<DB0FOR<DB0MRW<OK0PPL<DB0RES<ON0BEL<ZL2TZE<ZL2AB
Sent: 040111/0245Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:33115 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g $:ANS-11.
From: AMSAT@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : SAT@AMSAT
AMSAT News Service Bulletin 11.01 From AMSAT HQ
SILVER SPRING, MD. January 11, 2004
To All RADIO AMATEURS
BID: $ANS-11.01
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.
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.
[ANS thanks NASA News for the above information]
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