Challenger Astronaut Monument Unveiled

With Buddhist blessings and bittersweet memories, a 27-foot-long replica of the space shuttle Challenger was unveiled in Little Tokyo on Friday in honor of Col. Ellison Onizuka, one of seven crew members who died in the shuttle explosion more than four years ago.

One-tenth the size of the Challenger, the memorial stands in the middle of a plaza named after Onizuka, the first Asian-American in space.

“With this project now fixed to the street that bears his name, all of you have given my husband, Ellison Onizuka, a very proud sense of permanence here in the City of Angels,” said his widow, Lorna, before she pulled a cord unveiling the fiberglass model with the help of Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and several astronauts from the American and Japanese space programs.

“Thank you for remembering with me and my children and my family a man who gently touched our lives in very special ways and then went away,” said Onizuka.

So true in detail is the monument that astronaut Col. Loren Shriver quipped that “if we have too many more problems with (the space shuttle) Columbia and hydrogen leaks, we may come and ask the committee if we can borrow this shuttle and use it for a while.”

Money for the $250,000 memorial is being raised by the local Japanese-American community. The replica sits atop a black granite base with a bronze plaque, bearing a large relief bust of Onizuka, and an inscription in English and Japanese.

“Born and raised in a simple rural community, he walked a remarkable path that led from the coffee fields of Kona, Hawaii, to miles above the earth,” reads part of the inscription.

The ill-fated Challenger launch was the second space flight for the 39-year-old Onizuka. Less than two minutes after liftoff on Jan. 28, 1986, the Challenger exploded, killing all seven aboard.