The Columbia families will be linked to the launch in another way. They have all been offered the opportunity to send objects with sentimental value aboard Discovery.Anderson is sending a pin with the Columbia mission logo on it.
McCool made a collage of photos around her husband's scorched name tag, the only one to be recovered from the Columbia's wreckage.
Doug Brown, brother of Dave Brown, the only unmarried member of the Columbia crew, is flying pennants of the high school, college and medical school his brother attended. ...
Once, when she and Willie had an argument, Lani took her "Hope" ring off and threw it on the bathroom counter.
Later, she noticed a glint on his hand. He had slipped the ring onto his pinkie finger. It was his way of maintaining a connection, of saying he was sorry.
She wore the ring faithfully until a few weeks ago, when she took it off, put it in a small box, wrote an address on the label and drove to the post office. She sat in the parking lot for a long moment, crying.
Then she walked inside and mailed the package, sending the ring on its way to what will be, she hopes, a safe journey, next to Willie's charred name tag.