ANACORTES, Wash. — In 2003, 22-year-old Sean McCool sat in a college computer lab listening to a scratchy NASA audio feed over a still evolving internet when he knew things were going wrong, and immediately called a family friend.
"It was in the days when you had to remember phone numbers, and this was the only one I remembered," Sean says. "It was an astronaut friend. He was straight business. He just said, 'Sean it's bad.'"
Sean's father, Commander Willie McCool, a husband and father of three died Feb. 1, 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in a cataclysm the world watched on live television.
He was 41 years old.
The seven-member crew perished when the shuttle broke apart as it re-entered earth's atmosphere.
An investigation determined the accident was caused by a piece of insulating foam which broke off and punched a hole in the left wing.
On the 20th anniversary, a bipartisan resolution was introduced to honor the lives lost in the accident.
"We continue to honor their sacrifice and courage in a new era of space exploration. As we enter the new Congress, let’s recommit to creating a culture of safety and innovation within all agencies and companies pursuing the exploration of space, and doing all that we can to protect the astronauts of today and tomorrow,” U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell said at the Wednesday hearing.
"It's one of those events where there's not a lot of people you can relate to," says Sean. "It's kind of lonely in that aspect. It's kind of weird."
Willie McCool never set out to be an astronaut. The Navy pilot stationed on Whidbey Island only applied because a bunch of his Navy buddies did.
"He just loved hiking and mountain biking," says Sean. "That was his happy place. Being an astronaut was never a goal."
Always the leader, never a follower, McCool excelled. His achievements impress even the granddaughter he never got to meet.
"He was just like one of those heroes that you read about because he was really just a great guy all together," says 15-year-old Riley Boxx.
A display at Island View Elementary where McCool volunteered shows photographs of McCool's life and accomplishments.
One exhibit asks students, "how will you change the world?"
A similar display at Anacortes High School, where Riley attends, implies the same question.
Riley, a 9th grader who runs track just like her grandfather did, says those words inspire her to follow in his footsteps.
"He went up there and he did God's work," she smiles. "I'm more proud than I am sad."
McCool lived a quiet life in Anacortes. He volunteered at schools and with youth sports. He loved the outdoors -- preferring the starlight to the limelight.
On that fatal mission he actually brought a pine cone from an Anacortes forest into space with him.
Sean McCool graduated from Anacortes High in 1998.
He believes the students who pass by the display of his father are walking the halls with greatness -- with an astronaut grounded in his humble humanity -- an ordinary hero to those in his orbit.
"He'd do that cheesy superhero talk of doing good and helping the less fortunate," says Sean. "That was how he lived, that was how he raised us, and that's how we raise our kids. Now that I'm older than he was, I understand it better. Appreciate each day we have because you never know when your last day is, or how much time your countdown has."