Rick Husband, 45, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, was a test pilot and veteran of one space flight. Husband received a bachelor of science in mechanical engineering from Texas Tech University in 1980 and a master of science in mechanical engineering from California State University-Fresno in 1990.

Husband was responsible for the overall conduct of the mission. During the mission, he did the maneuvering of Columbia as part of several experiments in the shuttle’s payload bay that focused on the Earth and the Sun. He was the senior member of the Red Team and worked with experiments relating to space medicine, particularly space and terrestrial Osteoporosis. Husband was scheduled to land Columbia at the end of the mission.

Selected by NASA in December 1994, Husband served as the pilot of STS-96 in 1999 – a 10-day mission during which the crew performed the first docking with the International Space Station. Prior to STS-107, he had logged more than 235 hours in space.

Born July 12, 1957, in Amarillo, Texas, Husband is survived by a wife and two children.

Return to Space Shuttle Columbia