Tuesday, February 4, 2003
Solemn service remembers Columbia´s fallen crew
By JAIME HERNANDEZ
NEWS-JOURNAL STAFF WRITER
DAYTONA BEACH — As Joyce Battle prayed for the families of the space shuttle Columbia´s astronauts, she wondered why they had to perish the way they did.
“I just thought it was sad, the way that they passed away,” Battle of Port Orange, said Monday night. “I wish there was something that could have been done. We don´t have to give up lives like that.”
Battle was one of about 100 people who attended an interfaith memorial service at Temple Israel in Daytona Beach.
Leaders from area churches and synagogues led the crowd in prayers and hymns to remember the seven astronauts who died Saturday when Columbia disintegrated over Texas just minutes before it was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center.
Worshippers signed a scroll Monday night that will be sent to the astronauts´ families. Well-wishers wrote words of encouragement and warmth. Many called the astronauts heroes.
The Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler counties and Temple Israel organized the service. Gloria Max, the federation´s executive director, called the astronauts´ deaths “a shared sorrow throughout the nation,” and said her group felt it necessary to invite members of other religious denominations to the service.
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“The astronauts came from different faiths,” she said before the service began. “I think we´ll feel better to express our grief with different people of different faiths.”
During the service, seven members of different religions each lit a candle as Max read the names and a brief biography of each astronaut. The mood in the temple was solemn, but there were no visible tears.
Prayers were read and sung in English and Hebrew, and the Rev. Howard Chadwick of the Living Cornerstone Church in Daytona Beach played a song on a guitar to honor Columbia´s crew.
“The people who died in this tragedy were those who pushed the envelope,” he said. “But in their failure, we succeeded, for it made our faith stronger.”
Also in the crowd was Volusia County Council Chairman Frank Bruno.
“I think that we all feel a loss here in Volusia County,” he said.
As for the safety of other astronauts, Battle and other worshipers said it´s time for NASA to consider alternatives to the space shuttle.
“I think that (NASA) needs to rethink the way that the space program is operated at this time.”
Special Report: THE COLUMBIA CHRONICLES |  |