Pilot’s father recalls horrific day

Jennifer Knight

Thursday, Feb. 13, 2003 | 9:54 a.m.

In the early dawn hours of Feb. 1, moments before space shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas, the father of pilot William McCool was snapping pictures of the shuttle streaking across the skies above Las Vegas.

"I yelled out, "There's our son. He's on his way home,' " Barry McCool, William's father, said Wednesday.

Shortly afterward, Mission Control in Houston lost all contact with the shuttle.

Barry McCool, an experienced Naval aviator, said he knew immediately that there would be no survivors. But the reality of his son's death struck him later that day, he said, as he waited to board a flight from Las Vegas to Houston.

"It was when I had that 15 minutes of standing there (at the ticket counter) that the reality hit and the tears flowed," McCool said at a news conference Wednesday at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

With criticism of the space shuttle program mounting in some quarters, the parents of William McCool, known as "Willie" to family and friends, conducted the news conference to honor their son and to express their continued support for the nation's space program.

Both of McCool's parents teach at UNLV.

"He was doing exactly what he wanted to do before he died," said Willie's mother, Audrey McCool, assistant dean of research at UNLV's hotel college.

The 41-year-old pilot fell in love with the space program when he was a test pilot at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland, his parents said. After earning two master's degrees in computer science and aeronautical engineering, he was accepted into the space program in 1996.

One of his duties was to design, develop and rewire some of the instruments in the shuttle cockpit. The designs he created are still used in other shuttles, Audrey McCool said.

McCool built an impressive career as an aviator and was a generous father who made time for his wife and three sons, his parents said. They also said McCool never forgot anyone he ever met.

McCool, who was born in San Diego and grew up in Texas, graduated second in a class of nearly 1,100 at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1983.

In one of McCool's last interviews, he said his parents were the guiding force behind all of his accomplishments.

The McCools said they have no regrets about their son's choice to become an astronaut. They described his dedication to NASA as a worthy cause and praised the other six astronauts who died aboard Columbia.

"Mankind's destiny lies beyond the stars and there are risks involved in this," said Barry McCool, who also teaches at the hotel college. "These seven individuals accepted that risk. We need to continue to have generations of astronauts that can explore and push those barriers back. If we are going to survive as a human race, our survival is beyond space."

He said he believes scrapping the space program would be foolish.

On the morning of the accident, the astronaut's father stood outside the couple's northwest Las Vegas home at 5:56 a.m. snapping pictures of the shuttle as it descended.

At 6 a.m. communications with the shuttle were inexplicably cut off, and Columbia broke apart over Texas.

Within 15 minutes Barry McCool had packed a bag and was rushing to McCarran International Airport to board a Southwest Airlines flight to Houston.

As NASA officials try to piece together the wreckage, the McCools said Wednesday that the only thing they are asking is to find out what went wrong.

"We're not looking for a witch hunt," Barry McCool said. "We're looking for answers."

On Wednesday search crews in Texas found remnants of the shuttle along with human remains and an astronaut's patch, officials said.

NASA officials have said that remains of all seven astronauts have been recovered.

The McCools said they will bury the cremated remains of their son at a private family ceremony on Feb. 28 at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I think the President of the United States would give the eulogy for my son," Barry McCool said. "No parent should have to bury a son or daughter before their time. It should be the other way around."

The commander's parents said they wanted to thank everyone who sent letters and good wishes.

"I am sad for your son William," one 5-year-old girl from Henderson wrote to the McCools. "I hope you feel better about it."

The Associated Press

contributed to this story.