[FPSPACE] European Commission Condolences

[Stefan Barensky]

>From the Press and Communication Department of the European Commission:


Columbia: Philippe Busquin stresses the astronauts' courage and space
solidarity at world level

After the dramatic accident of the space shuttle Columbia, Philippe Busquin,
Commissioner responsible for Research, offered his sympathy to the families
of the astronauts who died in this tragedy, as well as to the NASA. He paid
tribute to the crew and recalled to what extent the conquest of space and
scientific progress owe to men and women committed with passion to this
adventure. He also pointed out the importance of solidarity and space
co-operation at world level for the manned space flights.

Philippe Busquin more particularly greeted the courage of men and of women
who risk their life for research and science progress. "The crew of Columbia
was coming back from an important scientific expedition which was a major
success. This tragedy reminds us cruelly that the space conquest is a
high-risk activity and that there is no progress in the space field without
the courage, intelligence and determination of people who, such as the crew
of Columbia, are fully committed in the space adventure and love what they
do ". 

Philippe Busquin also stressed the importance of solidarity and co-operation
at world level for this type of project, as underlined in the recent
European Commission Green Paper on European space policy (IP/03/82). " We
must continue all together our work and rely on each other to go ahead in
this fantastic human adventure " he said.


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Stefan Barensky
Senior Space Editor
http://www.space-launcher.com