HUSBAND

USAF Col. Rick Douglas Husband, 45, commander of the Columbia, was a native of Amarillo, Tex., who had logged more than 3,800 hr. in more than 40 types of aircraft. He was a mechanical engineer by training (bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University; master's from California State University-Fresno). His Air Force experience included being an F-4E instructor pilot, test pilot and program manager for the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 increased performance engine for the F-15. But he said that from his childhood, when the Mercury program began, he wanted to be an astronaut. NASA selected him for that task in December 1994. Before his first flight, he put his test pilot training experience to use on the X-38 crew return demonstrator project and Orbiter Upgrade Team, as well as being chief of safety in the Astronaut Office. In 1999 he got his initial space assignment as pilot of Discovery on the 10-day STS-96 mission to the International Space Station. He leaves a wife and two children.

  USAF Col. Rick Douglas Husband
  Col. Ilan Ramon
  Mission specialist Kalpana Chawla
  Capt. David M. Brown
  U.S. Navy Cdr. William C. McCool
  Lt. Col. Michael P. Anderson
  U.S. Navy Capt. (select) Laurel Blair Salton Clark

Special Report: Columbia Investigation