NASA Renames Facility for Columbia Crew

The name of NASA's balloon research facility now honors space shuttle Columbia's seven astronauts, who died when their spacecraft disintegrated over east Texas in 2003, the agency announced Thursday.

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The National Scientific Balloon Facility now is the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility.

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Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, proposed the change in April. He said it would help commemorate what Columbia's crew stood for: "Honor, bravery and the quest for knowledge for generations to come."

The balloon facility first opened in 1961 in Boulder, Colo. Two years later the operation moved to east Texas. NASA began sponsoring its research in 1982.