Michael P. Anderson

Michael P. Anderson (December 25, 1959 - February 1, 2003) was an astronaut and the space shuttle payload commander of STS-107 (Columbia) who was killed when the craft disintegrated after reentry into the Earth's atmosphere. Anderson, of Spokane, Washington, was a lieutenant colonel in the US Air Force and became an astronaut in 1994 and had served aboard Russia's Mir space station in 1998.

Washington State Highway 904, running through Cheney, Washington, where he graduated from high school, was renamed in his memory.

Quotes

Prior to the final launch of the Columbia, Anderson stated:

• "There's always that unknown."

See also:

• Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
• space science

External Links

• NASA biography (http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/anderson.html)
• The Chicago Alliance for Minority Participation Keynote Address by Major Michael P. Anderson (http://www.iit.edu/~iitnsf/depastro.html)