United States Astronaut. 43 years old, and a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Air Force, he was chosen as an astronaut in 1994. He was a Payload Commander on the Space Shuttle Columbia. On February 1, 2003 NASA lost all communication and radar contact with the shuttle just minutes before a 9:16AM scheduled landing time. A short time later it was confirmed that the Columbia had exploded over eastern Texas, and that there were no survivors. Lost in the tragedy with Lt. Col. Anderson were crew members Commander Rick Husband, Israeli Payload Specialist Ilan Ramone, Pilot Willam McCool, Mission Specialist Kalpana Chawla, Mission Specialist David Brown, and Mission Specialist Laural Clark. (bio by: Julie Karen Hancock  (Cooper) Jackson)