Astronaut’s mom: Son did not die in vain

Monday, Feb. 3, 2003 | 10:06 a.m.

Audrey McCool of Las Vegas, whose son William died in Saturday's space shuttle explosion, is urging Americans not to give up the dream of space travel.

William McCool, 41, was the Columbia's second in command on his first shuttle flight with five other Americans and one Israeli.

"Don't give up the dream," Audrey McCool said Saturday. "Science is important to all of us."

She had watched the space shuttle Columbia fly over Las Vegas early Saturday morning, then went inside to watch the landing on television.

"It was just perfect, it looked so great," said McCool, a retired Army Reserve colonel. "It was the trip of a lifetime... Unfortunately he was on this one."

Her husband, Barry, a retired Marine and Navy pilot, was watching the shuttle cross the sky over Las Vegas and immediately went to Houston as soon as he realized there was trouble.

Her younger son is an Army helicopter pilot with the Black Hawk North Mountain Division and a daughter just left the Navy Reserve.

Audrey McCool is an assistant dean in hotel administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and her husband is a graduate student in education.

She praised President Bush and his message of condolence to the astronauts' families.

"He did not die in vain," she said of her son.

Every morning while Columbia circled the globe, McCool tuned in to a live NASA feed.

"All of the crew was very excited about this mission because it had so many experiments to help mankind," she said.

Her son, William, had always wanted to be a pilot from the time he was a student at Coronado High School in Lubbock, Texas, where he graduated in 1979.

"He was an excellent pilot and a deeply religious man," Audrey McCool said. He also worked with children and enthusiastically talked to them about space travel, she said.

William McCool finished second in his class of 1,100 at the U.S. Naval Academy. In an interview on the NASA website, he said his father inspired him to become a pilot.

He also earned a master's degree in computer science and aeronautical engineering, joined the Navy as a test pilot and was based at an air station north of Seattle.

When he was in his 30s, he applied to be an astronaut. NASA accepted him in 1996, and the McCools -- William, Lani and their three children -- moved to Houston for his shuttle training.

Audrey McCool left Las Vegas on Sunday morning to join her husband in Houston.