Editing William C. McCool (section)

== Early and personal life ==
McCool was born on September 23, 1961, in [[San Diego]], [[California]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Wright |first=Pearce |date=2003-02-03 |title=The Columbia astronauts |url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/feb/03/guardianobituaries.spaceexploration |access-date=2025-01-08 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |author=Staff Writer |date=February 2, 2003 |title=Seven heroes of Columbia |url=https://www.capecodtimes.com/story/news/2003/02/02/seven-heroes-columbia/50960186007/ |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=Cape Cod Times |language=en-US}}</ref> His parents divorced when McCool was young, and in 1969, his mother married Barent McCool, a Naval aviator.<ref name="usnamh" /> McCool was active in the [[Boy Scouts of America]], where he became an [[Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)|Eagle Scout]].<ref>[http://www.scouting.org/About/FactSheets/scouting_space.aspx William C. "Willie" McCool at scouting.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303213130/http://www.scouting.org/about/factsheets/scouting_space.aspx |date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> His favorite song was "[[Imagine (John Lennon song)|Imagine]]" by [[John Lennon]], which was played during the STS-107 mission. McCool's favorite band was [[Radiohead]], and the song "[[Fake Plastic Trees]]" was played by [[Mission Control]] as a wake-up call.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chronology of Wakeup Calls|first=Colin|last=Fries|date=March 13, 2015|url=https://history.nasa.gov/wakeup%20calls.pdf|publisher=NASA History Division|access-date=November 25, 2022|archive-date=December 20, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231220093919/https://history.nasa.gov/wakeup%20calls.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
 
McCool died at age 41 on February 1, 2003, when [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']] broke up over the southern United States during reentry. He was survived by his wife, Lani, and their three sons. McCool is buried in [[Anacortes, Washington]], where he lived at the time of his death.<ref name="NYT-20071205" /><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/McCool-s-excitement-was-infectious-1106630.php|date=February 3, 2003|title=McCool's excitement was infectious / Anacortes mourns shocking loss of generous, inspiring neighbor|publisher=[[Seattle P-I]]|access-date=February 19, 2011}}</ref>