Space Shuttle Enterprise Dedicated To Crew Members Of NASA Tragedies
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The space shuttle Enterprise was dedicated Monday to the fallen crews of the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia space missions.
Relatives of some of the crew members attended the dedication ceremony at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, where the retired Enterprise is housed.
Kathie Scobee Fulgham's father, Dick Scobee, was commander of Challenger and helped test how Enterprise, an orbiter, would be transported on a Boeing 747.
Space Shuttle Enterprise Dedicated To Crew Members Of NASA Tragedies
"So this is truly a coming home for us, to see where it all started for him," she told WCBS 880's Jim Smith.
A plaque lists the names of those killed in the missions.
The families say they hope to inspire future generations.
Allison Smith Balch, whose father, Mike Smith, was the pilot of Challenger, said it's touching "knowing how much my dad and the others were loved and looked up to and still that people remember."
Added Rona Ramon, whose husband, Ilan, the first-ever Israeli astronaut, was on Columbia: "Our role is to ... remember, to educate and inspire."
Three astronauts were killed in a cabin fire on Apollo 1 in 1967. Seven people were killed when space shuttle Challenger broke up just after takeoff in 1986. And seven crew members were killed in 2003 when Columbia disintegrated as it re-entered the earth's atmosphere.
