Columbia commander's wife concerned

DALLAS, Feb. 1 (UPI) -- The widow of the Columbia commander is concerned NASA may be pushing too hard to return a shuttle to space by early June.

Evelyn Husband, the wife of Columbia commander Rick Husband, spoke to The Dallas Morning News for a story on the second anniversary of the shuttle's loss.

"I want NASA to succeed. I'm just extremely concerned that they're going to be able to meet the challenge of changing the culture," she said. "They're very eager to move on."

There are others in the NASA family who share Husband's concern, but there are also those who argue the space agency has made major improvements, the News reported.

"It would be a terrible dishonor to their memory to give up and not go forward," said Wayne Hale, a deputy NASA program manager who has helped make changes.

Husband and six other astronauts died Feb. 1, 2003 when the Columbia tore apart over Texas en route to a Florida landing. The shuttle Discovery is being prepared for the first launch since the accident in May or June.