Brussels, 03/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Philippe Busquin, European Research Commissioner, offered his sympathy to the families of the astronauts who died in the explosion of the Columbia space shuttle on Saturday, as well as to the North American Space Agency (NASA). Pointing out the importance of solidarity and cooperation at world level for this kind of project, Mr Busquin mainly paid tribute to the courage of the men and women who risk their lives to make research and science move forward. He said: "The crew of Columbia was coming back from an important scientific expedition which was a major success. This tragedy reminds us cruelly that the space conquest is a high-risk activity and that there is no progress in the space field without the courage, intelligence and determination of people who, such as the crew of Columbia, are fully committed in the space adventure and love what they do".