An Ames couple who had already lost their son in the Sept. 11 attacks suffered another loss Saturday when the space shuttle Columbia shattered into pieces with their niece on board.

It was the first space flight for mission specialist Laurel Clark, a 41-year-old U.S. Navy commander who was born in Ames. Clark, who considered Racine, Wis., her hometown, was one of the seven crew members killed in Saturday’s Columbia spacecraft disaster.

Clark still had family in Iowa — her uncle and aunt, the Rev. Douglas and Betty Haviland, and 96-year-old grandmother, Mary Haviland, reside in Ames.

The astronaut’s death is not the first public tragedy for the Havilands. Their son, Timothy, a computer programmer for Marsh McLennan Inc., worked in the 96th floor of the World Trade Center and died in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

In an interview Saturday, the Havilands said they learned of the shuttle disaster early Saturday morning through television news and reports from family members.

“We knew she was due to come down [Saturday] morning,” Betty Haviland said. “We turned on CNN to see if they had any information, then our son, Bruce, called and said [NASA] had lost contact [with the space shuttle].”

Watching the repeating images of shuttle debris falling to Earth on television was reminiscent of watching the footage of the terrorist attacks, Betty Haviland said.

“As soon as [we] saw that debris field, it became pretty clear what had happened,” she said. “We have the sense of d‚ja vu, as you can imagine.”

Born in Ames, Clark’s father was an ISU student, and her parents lived in Pammel Court until Clark was 2 years old. Clark’s family moved from Ames to Racine, Wis., where she attended Horlick High School.

Clark earned a bachelor’s degree in zoology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked her way through medical school there by joining the U.S. Navy.

“She had goals in mind and really zeroed in on them,” Douglas Haviland said. “She applied to be an astronaut in 1996 … she was very determined to get up into space.”

The Havilands described their niece as an ambitious and courageous scientist who felt fortunate for the opportunity to perform scientific research in space. Clark was conducting a number of biological experiments on board Columbia, including cultivating prostate cancer cells and conducting experiments on the effects of space travel on her fellow astronauts.

“She was proud to be representing her country,” Betty Haviland added. “She looked at this opportunity as a frontier experience.”

As Clark’s cousin and friend, Timothy had encouraged and supported Clark in her mission to become an astronaut, Betty Haviland said. He had planned to attend Clark’s shuttle launch.

“Tim had wanted to go [to Florida for the launch],” Betty Haviland said. “But of course, 9/11 got rid of that idea.”

Douglas Haviland, a retired Episcopalian minister, said the family’s faith has strengthened them during times of grief.

“Faith is important — we have to lean on it in times like this,” Douglas Haviland said. “Life brings hurt and tragedy … but the public nature of these events adds a different dimension.”

Clark lived with her husband, Jonathan Clark, and their 8-year-old son, Iain, in Houston.

Marjory Brown, Clark’s mother and sister of Douglas Haviland, told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel that Iain was reluctant to see his mother leave on the space mission.

Brown said Iain asked her, “Why can’t any of you go, then my mom won’t have to go.”

Clark was the eldest of four children, and two of her siblings, Robert Salton and Lynne Salton, graduated from Iowa State. Lynne Salton had the opportunity to watch the shuttle launch in Florida on Jan. 16. She said she was nervous when watching the launch, but relaxed when she realized the shuttle had taken off without incident.

“When we saw the solid rocket boosters drop away, everything was still fine, my heart lifted a little, and then they got to main engine cutoff,” she told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Jonathan, Iain and Lynne were waiting at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center for the shuttle’s return on Saturday.

The Havilands had last received correspondence from Clark via an e-mail the astronaut had sent to her family on Friday. The message detailed Clark’s space journey and expressed her excitement about returning to Earth.

“Hello from above our magnificent planet Earth,” Clark wrote in the e-mail. “The perspective is truly awe-inspiring.”

Haviland said the family believes they are lucky to have heard from Clark one last time before the shuttle tragedy.

“I feel blessed that we were able to hear from her just yesterday,” she said. “We know she died with a sense of mission.”

— NASA and The Associated Press contributed to this story.