Joined in Spirit and Flight

For two grueling years, they honed their skills and their characters with hundreds of hours of exacting training.

They studied the careers of antique British explorers and, together, climbed rugged mountains in Wyoming.

They were a team: Five men and two women. Their leader was Rick D. Husband, an Air Force colonel and father of two who sang solos in his church choir.

His teammates included a crack Israeli fighter pilot -- his country’s first astronaut -- and another Air Force officer who was one of only seven African Americans in the U.S. manned space program. The rest of the crew had backgrounds similarly diverse and equally rich in achievement. Two were physicians. As a group, they shared a passion for flight and family, church and temple.

By NASA’s current standards, the crew of STS-107, as the mission was formally called, was relatively inexperienced. Only three -- Husband, Air Force Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson and civilian astronaut Kalpana Chawla -- had flown in space before. Navy Cmdr. William C. McCool, Israeli air force Col. Ilan Ramon, Navy Cmdr. Laurel Clark and Navy Capt. David M. Brown were rookies.

Anderson, who loved flying, warned the rookies to prepare themselves for the rigors of the launch, which he disliked. “It’s the risk factor,” he said. “There’s always the unknown” -- and the unforeseen. In 42 years of U.S. manned space flight, there had never before been an accident during the descent to Earth.

Experience and careful study of missions involving multinational crews such as Columbia’s have taught NASA that success requires more than technical training. So their preparation involved, among other things, a comparative study of the leadership styles of 19th century British naval explorers James Cook, the great South Seas navigator, and William Bligh of Bounty infamy. In August, they trekked into Wyoming’s remote Wind River Mountains, where each of the seven was leader for a day, as they crossed the Continental Divide from the west.

“Astronauts in general are very hard-charging, motivated people who in general are used to being leaders,” Clark said. But, she added, it is vital on any spaceflight that “you’re working together as a team.”

When the time came to climb 13,000-foot Wind River Peak, the Columbia crew had to decide whether to choose only their best climbers or take on the mountain as a group. They all made the climb.

Tuesday, the Columbia astronauts joined in a moment of silence for the seven-member crew of the Challenger, who died on that date, 17 years ago.

“Their dedication and devotion to the exploration of space was an inspiration to each of us,” Husband radioed before Tuesday’s moment of silence.

Saturday, fate -- fiery and terrible -- forever joined the five men and two women of Columbia to the seven Challenger colleagues that they had mourned.

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Air Force Col.

Rick D. Husband

Age: 45

Job: Shuttle commander

Personal: Married, two children

Hometown: Amarillo, Texas

Shuttle experience: Second mission

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Navy Cmdr.

William C. McCool

Age: 41

Job: Shuttle pilot

Personal: Married, three sons

Hometown: San Diego

Shuttle experience: First mission

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Air Force Lt. Col.

Michael P. Anderson

Age: 43

Job: Payload commander

Personal: Married, two children

Hometown: Spokane, Wash.

Shuttle experience: Second mission

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Kalpana Chawla, Ph.D

Age: 41

Job: Mission specialist

Personal: Married

Hometown: Karnal, India

Shuttle experience: Second mission

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Navy Capt.

David M. Brown

Age: 46

Job: Mission specialist

Personal: Single

Hometown: Arlington, Va.

Shuttle experience: First mission

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Navy Cmdr. Laurel Clark

Age: 41

Job: Mission specialist

Personal: Married, one son

Hometown: Racine, Wis.

Shuttle experience: First mission

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Col. Ilan Ramon,

Israeli air force

Age: 48

Job: Payload specialist

Personal: Married, four children

Hometown: Ramat Gan, a suburb of Tel Aviv

Shuttle experience: First mission