In a new report, NASA reviews the way the space shuttle Columbia was destroyed and how the astronauts died as part of an effort to design a better spacecraft for the future. Here is a look at the seven who died on Feb. 1, 2003.
• Commander Rick Husband, 45, was an Air Force colonel from Amarillo, Texas. The former test pilot was selected as an astronaut in 1994 on his fourth try. He was survived by his wife and two children. Besides flying, Husband's other passion in life was singing. The baritone sang in a church choir for years.
• Pilot William McCool, 41, was a Navy commander who grew up in Lubbock, Texas. He graduated second in his 1983 class at the Naval Academy, went on to test-pilot school and became an astronaut in 1996. McCool was an experienced Navy pilot with more than 2,800 hours in flight. He was married with three sons. The Columbia mission was his first spaceflight.
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• Payload commander Michael Anderson, 43, was flying for the Air Force when NASA chose him in 1994 as one of only a handful of black astronauts. The lieutenant colonel was a native of Spokane, Wash., and was married with two daughters. He was in charge of Columbia's science experiments.
• Kalpana Chawla, 41, immigrated to the United States from India in the 1980s. At the time, she wanted to design aircraft. She was chosen as an astronaut in 1994 after working at NASA's Ames Research Center in Northern California. She was survived by a husband.
• David Brown, 46, was a Navy captain, pilot and doctor. The Arlington, Va., native joined the Navy after a medical internship, then went on to fly the A-6E Intruder and F-18. He became an astronaut in 1996. Columbia's mission was his first spaceflight.
• Laurel Clark, 41, was a diving medical officer aboard submarines and then a flight surgeon before she became an astronaut in 1996. Her role on Columbia was to help with science experiments. The Racine, Wis., native was married to a NASA doctor and had a son.
• Ilan Ramon, 48, was a colonel in Israel's air force and the first Israeli in space. Ramon fought in the Yom Kippur War in 1973 and the Lebanon War in 1982, and he served for years as a fighter pilot. He was chosen as Israel's first astronaut in 1997, then moved to Houston the next year to train. He had a wife and four children who lived in Tel Aviv.
— The Associated Press
