[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 23 (Friday, February 7, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E173-E174]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES OF THE HOUSE TO THE FAMILIES OF THE CREW OF THE 
                       SPACE SHUTTLE ``COLUMBIA''

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                               speech of

                       HON. LUCILLE ROYBAL-ALLARD

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 5, 2003

  Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleagues and all America 
in extending heartfelt sympathy and sincere appreciation to the 
families of the Space Shuttle Columbia crew and the entire NASA family. 
We are honored by the sacrifices these families have made supporting 
their loved ones in the space program.
  When the Columbia did not return as scheduled on February 1, 2003, 
the former employees of a now closed aerospace plant, as well as the 
local residents, felt a particularly painful loss. Key portions of the 
mighty Space Shuttle Columbia were built in my Congressional District 
at the former Rockwell International plant in the City of Downey.
  Years before most Americans would become familiar with NASA's space 
shuttle program, construction of Columbia was in full swing at the 
Rockwell plant in Downey. The crew modules, the rear fuselage and the 
forward reaction control system were all constructed locally with 
dozens of subcontractors contributing to the effort. At its peak, the 
project employed 14,000 local residents.
  The men and women who helped build the Columbia took great pride in 
their labor and in each of the shuttle's successful flights. It was 
their work that built the shuttle, that put it and its crew in space 
and that safely brought them all home again. For them, the Columbia 
truly was a labor of both love and pride.
  Losing the Columbia was a particularly emotional blow for workers of 
the former shuttle-manufacturing plant since they had also worked on 
the Space Shuttle Challenger. For the people of Downey and the former 
employees of Rockwell, the crews of the Columbia and the Challenger 
will forever have a special place in their hearts and in the history of 
the city.
  I commend Downey's civic and business leaders for their current 
efforts to utilize the now-empty birthplace of the early shuttles as 
the linchpin of their economic revitalization efforts. Their plans to 
include a space museum

[[Page E174]]

and learning center on this site to honor the crew of the Columbia and 
to remember the important role this great city played in the history of 
our Nation's aerospace program is now all the more appropriate and 
poignant. The Columbia and the Challenger will live on for local 
residents and visitors alike when the space museum is built.
  Mr. Speaker, today we are all humbled by the ultimate sacrifice the 
courageous men and women of the Columbia made on behalf of their 
Nation. I salute the crew of Columbia and the men and women of my 
district who helped build the shuttle and deliver it into space and 
into history.

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