Sports: Aggie basketball still winless. Page 7 ropfr p. He; CAPE CANAVERAL. Fla. — ine year after Columbia broke art and fell in flaming streaks om the Texas sky, NASA work- ■rs who launched the shuttle and Is seven astronauts and then gath- Jred up the remains stood united in theii'Mjrrow Sunday at the precise ^toment of destruction. The first anniversary of the tastrophe was a time for every- ne — rocket engineers, debris archers, school children, space (nthusiasts, even football fans — I) pause and remember. I “One year ago, at this very lour, the unthinkable occurred,” Kennedy Space Center’s director, lim Kennedy, told the crowd of lew hundred who gathered on a Iray, drizzly morning at NASA’s |stronauts memorial. Kennedy quietly recited the antes of the Columbia astronauts, arved into the black granite mon- iment behind him: Commander ick Husband, co-pilot William IcCool, Michael Anderson, avid Brown, Kalpana Chawla, aurel Clark and Israel’s first stronaut, Ilan Ramon. “They were our friends. They re our heroes. Their loss will not e in vain. We will come back big- er, better and stronger than ever fore, and I can assure you that rew and their beloved families never, ever be forgotten,” ennedy said. Almost all of the mourners held long-stemmed rose. After the rief outdoor ceremony, they ucked the red. yellow, peach and ivory-colored roses into the white fence surrounding the memorial. Many wiped away tears. The ceremony began at 9 a.m. EST, the instant NASA lost com munication with Columbia over Texas on Feb. 1,2003. It ended at 9:16 a.m., the time the spacecraft should have landed on the Kennedy Space Center run way. By then, Columbia had shat tered into tens of thousands of pieces that crashed down on Texas and Louisiana. A piece of fuel-tank foam insu lation had torn a hole in Columbia’s left wing during the mid-January liftoff and allowed hot atmospheric gases to enter dur ing atmospheric re-entry. Knowing the astronauts well made the anniversary all the more painful for Arthur Willett, a shuttle recovery worker who spent three weeks in Texas picking up the pieces. "Even though working in this program day to day, you realize those things can happen — until they do, it’s hard to take that burden on.” he said, gripping a rose. Tributes also were held in many of the East Texas towns where the wreckage fell. The husbands of the two women who died aboard Columbia attended a memorial in Hemphill, in a packed Veterans of Foreign Wars hall. The memorial ended more than an hour later with a 21-gun salute. Jean-Pierre Harrison said he wanted to thank the people who recovered the remains of his wife, Kalpana Chawla. "You are among the best America has to See Workers on page 2 RANDAL FORD • THE BATTALION Seven flowers and mementos lie next to the crash site of the Columbia space shuttle in Nacogdoches last February. Effects of tragedy still influence A&M campus By Rhiannon Meyers THE BATTALION Sunday marked the one-year anniver sary of the Columbia space shuttle explo sion that killed seven astronauts. NASA spokeswoman Julie Burt said she lost seven members of her family in the Columbia tragedy. "I had met the whole crew before they went up,'’ Burl said. "They were very excited about the mission and they all loved each other. It was really an amaz ing crew and we lost them." Columbia disintegrated over Texas on Feb. 1, 2(X)3, upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere killing seven astronauts: Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, William McCool. Rick Husband, Laurel Clark. David Brown and Ilan Ramon. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board determined the cause of the accident to be wing damage caused from a piece of bro ken foam insulation. "The accident has made us very reflective on everything we do now,” Burt said. "We had a lot to swallow after the board findings. Every thing was mov ing so fast, and this horrible thing caused us to stop and think.” Burt said the accident was not the fault of just one person, but of many NASA workers. "It was hard for everyone to realize they had a part in this,” Burt said. Dr. John Valasek, associate professor of aerospace engineering, said the most tragic aspect about the Columbia tragedy was that it was preventable. "It was unfortunate that we had in essence repeated what happened in the Challenger in 1986,” Valasek said. | "Astronauts know the risks involved every time they go on a mission, but as engineers we must take as many meas ures as possible to make sure it is a safe See A&M on page 10 Jjew England Patriots win Super Bowl 2004 Uil-liMJL “JBy Dave Goldberg ■THE ASSOCIATED PRESS aiowrl ;omp4 HOUSTON ~ Houston, we 'icaflasc a champion. And once I a || Ain, the New England Patriots remit I® e Adam Vinatieri’s foot to jontl tlia ik for a Super Bowl victory. ■Vinatieri gave New England s, c its second NFL championship 5 n at in three seasons with a 41 -yard the S'field goal with 4 seconds left are for a thrilling 32-29 victory tion over the Carolina Panthers on ve. Sunday night. indAvinatieri earlier missed a iging field goal and had another one )erce r blocked. But as he did in 2002 t ft®Ben he kicked the winning field goal to beat St. Louis on ^B final play of the Super dy wfC lwl, he proved he is perhaps ''th| NFL’s best dutch kicker. |For a con- that was reless for a lord 27 minutes, this game B one of the all-time offen sive shows between two of the As best defenses, n (/iPlBThere were 37 points scored .ji-g" in ihe fourth quarter alone and gdenfom Brady, who led New land on its winning drive, as 32-of-48 for 354 yards and e touchdowns, rady was voted the game’s P for the second time in e seasons, although he did gsr^'Bnv an interception that pre- preMented New England from in L winning more easily. readiA'There have been some 11 lean attacks, but they’ve come )ut on top,” said coach Bill . Jichick. whose team won its 15th straight game. K^BCarolitia had tied the game * with its third fourth-quar- ft aC BtO on a 12-yard pass from ^ lf1 jBe Delhomme to Ricky ^ ie B>ehl. Then John Kasay ,ere kicked the ball out of bounds