Columbia disaster

Legacy

On April 1, 2003, the Opening Day of baseball season, the Houston Astros honored the Columbia crew by having seven simultaneous first pitches thrown by family and friends of the crew. During the singing of the national anthem, 107 NASA personnel carried a US flag onto the field. The Astros wore the mission patch on their sleeves the entire season. On February 1, 2004, the first anniversary of the Columbia disaster, Super Bowl XXXVIII held in Houston's Reliant Stadium began with a pregame tribute to the crew of the Columbia by singer Josh Groban performing "You Raise Me Up", with the crew of STS-114 in attendance.