Iowa Company prepares NASA memorial for Columbia astronauts

A Fairfield, Iowa company will add the names of astronauts lost in last weekend’s fatal shuttle breakup to a “wall of fame” for the space travelers in Florida. Creative Edge Master Shop is the largest water-engraving company in the world, specializing in intricate designs and even mechanical components. Creative Edge president Bob Sawyer says some metal pieces cut in Fairfield were actually on the Columbia. After the Challenger disaster in 1986, Creative Edge fabricated a memorial for the astronauts, in a 60-by-40-foot rotating wall of granite now displayed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Sawyer says NASA contacted him with a plan to add the names of the STS-107 astronauts to the existing memorial. They did the original one for the Challenger, he says, and now will be adding to it after they contacted his company and said they want to add eight names. He says they haven’t started the work yet. Sawyer says they’re still putting the pieces together and working with NASA and the astronauts’ association so it may be ready by the end of the month. Creative Edge does little work in Iowa but pieces created by the Fairfield company can be seen on buildings and sculptures around the world.