Amarillo honors Rick Husband on 20th anniversary of 2003 Columbia shuttle tragedy

Editor's note: The former last name of the wife of Rick Husband was originally misspelled in this story; it has been corrected below. The Globe-News regrets the error.

In honor of Amarillo’s own Rick Husband, who died with six other astronauts in the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy 20 years ago, the city of Amarillo held a ceremony to honor his memory Wednesday morning at the Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

Friends of Husband and representatives of the city of Amarillo gathered around his statue in the airport to pray, give remembrance and to lay a wreath in his honor at the ceremony.

Husband was the commander of the Columbia’s Feb. 1, 2003, flight, which upon launch lost some of the insulative foam that also damaged thermal tiles on the left wing of the spacecraft. Upon the shuttle's reentry, hot atmospheric gases penetrated the heat shield, destroying the wing structure, making the craft unstable and causing it to break apart.

A graduate of Amarillo High School, Rick Husband is remembered for all of his great achievements and for putting Amarillo on the map in space exploration.

Carol Lovelady, a lifelong friend of Husband’s wife Evelyn Neely-Husband, spoke about the impact of the tragedy on her and the city of Amarillo.

“I think today brings back the grief our whole city experienced with this tragedy very quickly,” Lovelady said. “People were devastated; they were so devastated. Everyone was so proud of Rick and had followed his career. We were so proud to have an astronaut from our city.  We admired his education and commitment to becoming an astronaut. Losing him at the last second of that flight was a terrible tragedy."

Lovelady said it was especially hard for his wife and two kids at the time to lose such a special member of their family. She said that the city naming the airport after Rick Husband was a wonderful tribute to help keep his memory alive.

“We consider him the son of our city, and this really is so fitting that he is remembered for his achievements by the name of the airport,” Lovelady said. “What an honor it is to have such a fine person who was such an example of his faith. He was a kind, generous, committed person that we will all remember.”

Recalling a special memory of Rick Husband, Lovelady said that she remembers eating dinner with him just prior to his going to testing to be in the astronaut program in Houston.

“While everyone else was eating ribs, he was eating chicken because he wanted all of his numbers to be right on physically for the selection process," Lovelady said. “Those astronauts have to in such great shape and such physical specimens to be in this program, and Rick really wanted to be the best he could be.”

Susan Esler, who was a classmate and friend of Husband since they were in the seventh grade, spoke during the ceremony and gave her recollections of him.

“It was unreal because he always talked about doing this growing up, and I always thought that sounds great and then he ends up becoming an astronaut," Esler said. “All of a sudden, we had a classmate who was flying up into space on his first mission and then a commander on his second mission.”

Esler said she was excited for him when she found out he would be commanding the ill-fated mission. She said that she was able to be present at the launch of the Columbia mission in 2003.

“When we watched that morning, we saw such a beautiful sunrise, and to see the shuttle climb in the air with one of your really good friends as the flight commander was so exciting,” Esler said.

Unable to watch the reentry of the shuttle flight, Esler said she was unaware of what had happened until a somewhat cryptic voice message came through on a Saturday morning, saying “Susan, I am thinking of you,” followed by scores of phone calls that gave her the tragic news about her friend.

Esler recalled that Amarillo High School had a service, and their Class of 1975 sat together as they honored the memory of Husband that year. She said that a good friend of Husband, David Jones, sang the song “To Dream the Impossible Dream” from “Man of La Mancha” as a tribute to him since he played the lead in the play his senior year.

“It was like the perfect song for Rick; his statue at the airport really reminds me of him in that play,” Esler said.

Remembering the great things that Husband achieved really impacts Esler, but she says this date always has an emotional impact on her.

“There is that sense of pride that I knew Rick Husband, who really did some really great things, but it's sad that he is gone and it really hits every February 1^st,” Esler said.

Mike Conner, the director of Amarillo airport, spoke about the legacy of Husband and how the airport tries to honor his life.

“I just want people to realize who Rick was, so we try to create areas of the airport so people can find out so much more about his achievements and life,” Conner said. “I am hoping that people will go online and find out more about him from events like this.”

Laura Storrs, assistant city manager, spoke about the ceremony for Rick Husband.

“Today was a great opportunity for several groups to come together and for us to honor the life of Rick Husband, with his contributions that he brought to our community and nation,” Storrs said. “It was a tragic situation that occurred, but he achieved dreams that he had as a child growing up in Amarillo. We are so happy to celebrate his life and accomplishments.”

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo honors Rick Husband on 20th anniversary of Columbia tragedy