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CNN Sunday Morning
Astronaut Hall of Fame Inducts Four Shuttle Flyers
Aired November 11, 2001 - 07:51 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR: The Astronaut Hall of Fame has four new members. The first class of space shuttle flyers was inducted in a patriotic ceremony yesterday.
Our CNN's John Zarrella was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN'S MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): They came from every era in America's space history. Astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs came to the Kennedy Space Center to honor their own.
Four astronauts, Bob Crippen, Richard Truly, Joe Engle and Rick Hauck became the first shuttle astronauts inducted in to the Astronaut Hall of Fame.
JOE ENGLE, SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: I'm damn proud to be an American.
ZARRELLA: The inductees all flew in the early 1980s, the first years of the program.
Crippen piloted Columbia on the first shuttle flight. Truly and Engle flew the second flight.
But even before that, they rode on the oft-forgotten Shuttle Enterprise. The vehicle, never destined to fly in space, but dropped from a 747 to test approaches and landings.
ENGLE: I was very proud of that whole -- that particular mission as much as anything.
RICHARD TRULY, SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: It was so shared that when we stopped, Joe pushed on the left brake and I pushed on the right brake and the Enterprise stopped right on center-line.
ENGLE: It's true.
TRULY: And it's true.
ENGLE: We didn't -- we hadn't had a chance to practice that, and so we looked like we may have been drinking a little beer on the way down to the runway.
ZARRELLA: Rick Hauck piloted the seventh shuttle, and commanded the first flight after the Challenger accident.
The next shuttle is scheduled to fly in less than three weeks. Crippen says more proof of America's resolve.
ROBERT CRIPPEN, SHUTTLE ASTRONAUT: I believe that the events of September the 11th have brought the country together in way that it -- that I don't think I've seen in my lifetime. And I'm sure when the shuttle flies again, that's just going to be a reinforcement of that.
ZARRELLA: From now on, two additional shuttle astronauts will be chosen each year for induction in the Hall of Fame.
(on camera): The shuttle astronauts have never gotten the attention or fanfare given to the original seven or the men who walked on the moon. Now they have their own special place in history.
John Zarrella, CNN, at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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