Presidential
Proclamation
Orders Flags Flown at Half-Staff Honoring the Memory of the Astronauts Aboard
Space Shuttle Columbia
February 1, 2003
As a mark of respect for Rick Douglas Husband, William C. McCool, Laurel Blair
Salton Clark, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, and Ilan
Ramon who gave their lives during the mission of STS-107 aboard the Space Shuttle
Columbia on February 1, 2003, I hereby order, by the authority vested in me
as President of the United States of America by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States of America, that the flag of the United States shall be
flown at half-staff at the White House and upon all public buildings and grounds,
at all military posts and naval stations, and on all naval vessels of the Federal
Government in the District of Columbia and throughout the United States and
its Territories and possessions through Wednesday, February 5, 2003. I also
direct that the flag shall be flown at half-staff for the same length of time
at all United States embassies, legations, consular offices, and other facilities
abroad, including all military facilities and naval vessels and stations.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of February,
in the year of our Lord two thousand three, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and twenty-seventh.