A hero’s philosophy on life may inspire others

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Christie Putz
  • 92nd Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
FAIRCHILD AIR FORCE BASE, Wash. (AFPN) --  Articles and other news clippings commemorating a hero’s life lay safely tucked away inside a plastic box.

Photos and plaques recounting his numerous achievements adorn the walls. In one corner, a stack of accident analysis reports and an actual piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia’s wreckage lie, largely untouched.

The focal point of the room, two larger than life photos, rest against the walls. One is an official National Aeronautics and Space Administration photo of Lt. Col. Michael Anderson, the other a more candid shot taken just minutes before Columbia’s launch.

“This is my favorite photo of him,” said Barbara Anderson while pointing at the latter picture of her son. “You can see in his smile how excited he is -- it’s just ‘him.’”

Her son was one of only a handful of African-American astronauts and one of seven crewmembers aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia when it exploded on re-entry just minutes before its scheduled touchdown Feb. 1, 2003.

His mother and father remember that morning vividly.

“We had kind of planned to go back to Florida for the landing and then at the last moment I just decided not to,” she said. “And I’m really glad I didn’t.”

Instead, she watched the morning’s events unfold on television from her Spokane, Wash., home.

“They said it was going to touch down at 8:16 a.m. Houston time, which was 6:16 a.m. here, and I woke up just in time to turn the television on,” she said.

Propped up in her bed with her glasses on, neither she nor her husband were prepared for what was about to happen.

“I started hearing things, and it wasn’t clear to me what they were saying,” she said. “They kept saying ‘we’ve lost it, we’ve lost it, we can’t track it.’ I knew something was wrong.”

Rushing downstairs to where her husband was watching on a bigger television, she confirmed what she had heard.

“They just kept going back and forth until they came on and said it had exploded,” she said.

The rest of the day was a whir of telephone calls and media interviews, she said.

“It was a good while until it actually sank in,” she said. “There was just so much bombarding your mind that you couldn’t really focus on the fact that it was really true.”

But it was true. Fortunately, it was the family’s strong resolve that carried them through the long days afterward and through the next three years.

“I know Michael was doing something that he loved -- it wasn’t something that he had to do, or was supposed to do, it was what he wanted to do and he was happy doing it, and that was a consolation,” she said.

His interest in and drive for becoming an astronaut started when he was just two or three years old, his father said.

“I had model aircraft, and we bought him these shell things that would shoot up in the air -- that’s what he was interested in from that time on,” he said.

“He made model aircraft from the time he was a small boy until -- well, when he was at NASA, he was still making them,” his mother said with a chuckle. “Science and aerospace, those were his things.”

From the shows he watched on television to the classes he later took in school, Michael Anderson always had his sights set on being an astronaut.

“He set his sights on it and I think everything he did after that was focusing in that direction, hoping that one day he would get it,” his mother said. “And, it worked.”

After graduating from the aerospace program at the University of Washington in Seattle, he was commissioned into the Air Force as a second lieutenant.

Shortly thereafter, he completed pilot school at the top of his class for academics and went on to be an aircraft commander in a KC-135 Stratotanker. Then he applied for NASA.

“He got accepted, I understand, on his first application because we didn’t even know he had applied until he called to tell us he had an interview,” she said.

His mother initially had mixed feelings about the news.

“He was ecstatic about it, so we supported him and let him know that maybe it wasn’t exactly what we would have wanted, but of course everyone has to live their own lives and we were proud of him, very proud of him,” she said.

One of her biggest sources of pride, and something that she says still inspires her, was his thirst for knowledge and drive to succeed.

“He was a hard worker, studied constantly. I don’t care what his days at work were like, he said he always had to have his couple hours of study because there was still so much to learn,” she said. “That was his philosophy -- learn something new everyday. He told me to do that, and I’ve been trying.”

She said he felt like there was so much in this world that man did not know yet and that time was of the essence.

"He said there was a lot of time wasted in eating. He was waiting for someone to come up with this pill or something that you could swallow and get back to work because there were hours and hours lost in mealtimes,” she said. “He was just that focused on using and taking advantage of time. He didn’t procrastinate in anything.”

His parents definitely see him as a role model for other adults and children.

“I think, for the youth especially, seeing and hearing all about his background and how he wasn’t a senator’s son or a congressman’s son, and he pursued what he wanted and was able to obtain it just on his own merit -- I see him as an inspiration,” Mrs. Anderson said.

He demonstrated that someone doesn’t need to have those things if they’ve got the desire and the dream, she said.

“I don’t think he’s missed a day of school since the fifth grade,” she said. “I know some days he probably didn’t feel like going, but he felt like if he missed a day he would miss out on something.”

Because of his focus on education, numerous scholarships around the world have been set up in his name, as well as several schools and libraries named after him, including Michael Anderson Elementary here.

“I know he would be proud to know that some student is able to go to higher education because of the scholarships that have been set up in his name,” she said.

Included in the nation-wide memorials is a life-size statue of Colonel Anderson in the middle of Riverfront Park, centered in the town he called home, Spokane. He is outfitted in his space suit and releasing a white dove -- representing peace and humility.

“Michael was very humble,” his mother said. “He was very personal about his achievements, because he never wanted anyone to think he was boasting.”

She recalled the time he made the rank of lieutenant colonel. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson were reading the Air Force Times and saw his name listed under promotions -- that was the first they heard about it.

“I called him and said ‘So I have to read about you in the paper now?’” she said. “But that’s just how he was, never calling attention to himself -- very, very humble.”

His mother smiled as she thought of Michael Anderson looking down on them, shaking his head at all the “fuss” being made over him.

But his accomplishments were numerous and he has shown that nothing should get in the way of a person’s goals, including their race.

With his family in the military, race was never really a focus, Mrs. Anderson said.

“But it was great for the youth, letting them know that you don’t let that kind of thing hinder you from driving for your goal, because it can happen, and it does,” she said. “Make sure you have done your work because you can’t expect to get anything for nothing, no matter who you are.”