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Mural Honoring Astronaut From Plattsburgh Dedicated

A mural depicting a NASA astronaut who was born in Plattsburgh and died when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during reentry in 2003 was dedicated on Sunday.

Lieutenant Colonel Michael Anderson was born in Plattsburgh on Christmas Day 1959 and lived most of his life in Spokane, Washington.  He joined the Air Force and was stationed at the Plattsburgh Air Force Base when he was selected by NASA for astronaut training in March 1995. During an interview with WAMC just before he left for Houston that year, he talked about his future hopes.

“Hopefully I’ll have a nice long successful career as an astronaut. I ah can’t imagine another job that I would rather do so I can’t imagine ever leaving the space agency. Hopefully after my flights as an astronaut I can advance and move on into the administrative side of NASA and I could continue to have a career there.”
Pat Bradley: “Have you ever had any fears about potential problems that could crop up?”
Michael Anderson: “Well not really fear. But I think anyone who’s going to do something like this has to be aware of the potential dangers involved. But you know it’s much like my job here in the Air Force. If you have confidence in the people that you work with, if you have confidence in your equipment and your training, it sort of takes away that fear and it replaces that fear with simply a sense of dedication to doing the job.”

Anderson was one of seven astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia when it disintegrated during re-entry on February 1, 2003.  “This is Mission Control Houston. Flight controllers continue to seek tracking or communication with Columbia through the Merritt Island tracking station.  Last communications with Columbia was at 8 a.m. Central Time approximately above Texas as it approached the Kennedy Space Center for its landing.”

Eighteen years later his family returned to Plattsburgh to dedicate a mural to Anderson.

“It was really touching to my heart that the city of Plattsburgh would think to honor Michael in such a way," said Michael's widow Sandra Anderson. "And when I saw the background and him in his suit and smiling I just thought ‘that’s Michael’. It just catches his essence you know he was just like that. Very happy and felt very honored and gifted and blessed really to be doing what he was doing. But he would have been honored that the people of Plattsburgh thought so much of him.”

Sandra Anderson received the key to the city during the dedication from Mayor Chris Rosenquest. 

“The city of Plattsburgh’s most permanent hometown hero banner sits on the side of this building forever," Rosenquest said. "And so it is with great honor that I convey to the family of Michael Anderson a key to this city.”

“That was very moving," Sandra Anderson said. "That was very unexpected and the mayor was very generous. He almost made me cry. Seriously.”

Anderson’s family then cut a ceremonial ribbon to officially dedicate the mural.

The Plattsburgh State Gospel Choir sang the hymn "My Help Comes from the Lord," which has special meaning to the Andersons.  "They sang it at Michael’s memorial in Spokane also so that was just a real special song."

The Anderson family traveled from Arizona and Texas to attend the ceremony. Meanwhile, Michael Anderson’s best friend Derek Green drove up from the Hudson Valley. Both had wanted to be astronauts Green remembers when Anderson was named to the astronaut corps. 

“I was a flight commander," Green said. "I was teaching fighter pilots to fly at the time. And he called me up and just simply said ‘Deke I got it.’ And all of my students heard me yell and scream. And so we were lucky enough to be with him the night of his first launch. But I was there for the launch and the fateful landing of the Columbia with his wife and his two daughters. And you know the only consolation that I took away from that is that I know that he’s home with the Lord right now. Mike was a devout Christian. So the first time my wife and I saw that we just started crying. It looks so much like him. It depicts his dream.”

Again, Michael Anderson speaking with WAMC in 1995: “I don’t feel like a hero. I think it’s going to be a job. It’s going to be a very unique and a very interesting job. But basically I think it’s just going to be life as normal for me I hope and for my family.”

Designed and painted by Brendon Palmer-Angell, the new mural is one of 18 across the city of Plattsburgh.