Richard Douglas Husband (July 12, 1957 – February 1, 2003) was an American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

and

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

. He traveled into space twice: as pilot of STS-96 and commander of STS-107. Husband and the rest of the crew of STS-107 were killed when ''Columbia'' disintegrated during reentry into the

Earth's atmosphere The atmosphere of Earth is composed of a layer of gas mixture that surrounds the Earth's planetary surface (both lands and oceans), known collectively as air, with variable quantities of suspended aerosols and particulates (which create weathe ...

. He is also a recipient of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor.

Early life, education and training

Husband was born on July 12, 1957, in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...

. At age 17, he earned his pilot's license while flying out of Tradewind Airport. Husband graduated with honors from Amarillo High School in 1975. Husband earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

from

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public university, public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the flagship instit ...

in 1980 after five years of study. He earned his

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree from Fresno State University. Upon graduation, Husband was commissioned as a pilot in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, having been enrolled in ROTC his last two years of college. Husband underwent pilot training at Vance Air Force Base, in

Enid, Oklahoma Enid ( ) is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. It is the county seat of Garfield County, Oklahoma, Garfield County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 51,308. Enid was founded during the openin ...

. This was followed by Land Survival School at Fairchild Air Force Base, in

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, and Fighter Lead-in School in New Mexico. After he got married on February 27, 1982, Husband trained in the F-4 at Homestead Air Force Base next.

U.S. Air Force career

Husband was assigned to a squadron at Moody Air Force Base in

Valdosta, Georgia Valdosta is a city in and the county seat of Lowndes County, Georgia, Lowndes County in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As the principal city of the Valdosta Metropolitan Statistical Area, Valdosta metropolitan statistical area, ...

, flying the F-4E. He then transferred to George AFB, in Victorville, California in December 1985, where Husband became an F-4 instructor. By then, he had accumulated 1000 hours of flying time. In December 1987, Husband was assigned to

Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) is a United States Air Force installation in California. Most of the base sits in Kern County, California, Kern County, but its eastern end is in San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino County and a souther ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, where he attended the USAF Test Pilot School class 88A along with future

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

astronaut Chris Hadfield. Upon completion of test pilot school, Husband served as a test pilot flying the F-4 and all five models of the F-15 Eagle. In the F-15 Combined Test Force, he was the program manager for the

Pratt & Whitney Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially ...

F100-PW-229 increased performance engine and also served as the F-15 Aerial Demonstration Pilot. In June 1992, Husband was assigned to the Aircraft and Armament Evaluation Establishment at Boscombe Down, England, as an exchange test pilot with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

. At Boscombe Down, he was the Tornado GR1 and GR4 Project Pilot and served as a test pilot in the Hawk, Hunter, Buccaneer, Jet Provost, Tucano, and Harvard. Husband logged over 3,800 hours of flight time in more than 40 different types of

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

NASA career

Husband was selected as an astronaut candidate by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

in December 1994, the same week he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. Husband reported to the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

in March 1995 to begin a year of training and evaluation. Upon completion of training, he was named the Astronaut Office representative for Advanced Projects at Johnson Space Center, working on

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

Upgrades, the Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) and studies to return to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and travel to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

. Husband eventually served as Chief of Safety for the Astronaut Office. In 1999, he flew as pilot on STS-96 and logged 235 hours and 13 minutes in

space Space is a three-dimensional continuum containing positions and directions. In classical physics, physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions. Modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless ...

. Husband was later assigned to command the crew of STS-107, which was launched early in 2003. Along with the rest of the STS-107 crew, he was killed upon reentry when the shuttle disintegrated over Texas.

Shuttle missions

* STS-96 (May 27 to June 6, 1999) aboard the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' was a 10-day mission during which the crew performed the first docking with the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

and delivered four tons of logistics and supplies in preparation for the arrival of the first crew to live on the station early the following year. The mission was accomplished in 153 Earth orbits, traveling 4 million miles in 9 days, 19 hours and 13 minutes. * STS-107 (January 16 to February 1, 2003) aboard the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' was a 16-day mission during which the crew performed over 80 experiments testing applications of

microgravity Weightlessness is the complete or near-complete absence of the sensation of weight, i.e., zero apparent weight. It is also termed zero g-force, or zero-g (named after the g-force) or, incorrectly, zero gravity. Weight is a measurement of the fo ...

to gain insight into the environment of space and improve life on Earth as well as enable future space exploration. The mission ended on the morning of February 1 when the shuttle disintegrated upon reentry killing all crew members, including Husband (see Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster).

Awards and decorations

Two NASA Group Achievement Awards.

Tributes

* Husband Hall, in the Columbia Village apartments, at the Florida Institute of Technology. * Husband Mission, one of the projects in the educational SpaceLab Program, run by the Ramon Foundation in memory of Ilan Ramon. Involves the writing of new Wikipedia entries on a variety of space and

STEM Stem or STEM most commonly refers to: * Plant stem, a structural axis of a vascular plant * Stem group * Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics Stem or STEM can also refer to: Language and writing * Word stem, part of a word respon ...

related topics. * Husband Hill, one of the Columbia Hills on

. * Asteroid 51823 Rickhusband. * Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport, in his hometown of Amarillo, Texas. * Husband Auditorium, Squadron Officer School building,

Maxwell AFB Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. * Rick Husband Boulevard Howardwick, Texas. * Rick Husband Drive,

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

. * Husband-Boeing Engineering Honors Program at

California State University, Fresno California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers 60 ba ...

* S.S. ''Rick Husband'', the Cygnus CRS OA-6 uncrewed resupply spacecraft. * The lunar crater Husband is named after Husband. Rick_Husband_statue_Amarillo_International

Rick_Husband_statue_Amarillo_International

Personal life

Husband's wife, Evelyn (born September 18, 1958), details her

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

life with Rick and his struggles to fulfill his lifelong dream to become an astronaut in the 2004 book ''High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband'' co-written with Donna VanLiere. They had two children together: Laura Marie (born October 5, 1990) and Matthew (born August 3, 1995). Evelyn married Bill Thompson in January 2008 and was the keynote speaker for the memorial ceremony at the Astronaut Memorial "Space Mirror" at the

Kennedy Space Center The John F. Kennedy Space Center (KSC, originally known as the NASA Launch Operations Center), located on Merritt Island, Florida, is one of the NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) ten NASA facilities#List of field c ...

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, five years after the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' tragedy.''Florida Today'', February 1, 2008

In popular culture

*American actor Brian David portrayed Rick Husband in the American TV series '' Seconds from Disaster'' Season 2: Episode 1 (2005) called "Space Shuttle Columbia".

References

External links

* *
Rick Husband STS-107 Crew Memorial
* ''High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband'' by Evelyn Husband and Donna VanLiere (Jan 11, 2004) *

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20090107084512/http://www.fresnostatenews.com/2008/10/husbandboeingscholars.htm Inaugural Husband-Boeing Engineering Honors Scholars {{DEFAULTSORT:Husband, Rick Douglas 1957 births 2003 deaths Space Shuttle Columbia disaster Accidental deaths in Texas Amarillo High School alumni American flight instructors Aviators from Texas Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in the United States California State University, Fresno alumni Christians from Texas Military personnel from Texas People from Amarillo, Texas Recipients of the Congressional Space Medal of Honor Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the NASA Distinguished Service Medal Space Shuttle program astronauts Husband, Rick D. United States Air Force astronauts U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School alumni United States Air Force colonels United States Air Force personnel of the Gulf War United States Air Force personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021)