Member of NASA's Columbia Reconstruction Team is pictured at the Kennedy Space Center in 2003
Posted on 08/02/2011 4:05:30 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
A piece of the ill-fated space shuttle Columbia has surfaced in eastern Texas, where a severe drought has dried up a lake and exposed debris from the 2003 accident, NASA said Tuesday.
The globe-shaped object that turned up in Lake Nacogdoches, north of Houston, was one of 18 tanks on Columbia that helped power the shuttle, said NASA spokeswoman Lisa Malone.
Member of NASA's Columbia Reconstruction Team is pictured at the Kennedy Space Center in 2003
"Late last week, we were contacted by the Nacogdoches sheriff's office letting us know that they had found an item of what they thought was Columbia debris," Malone told AFP.
"The drought caused the lake to recede and the levels are down, which exposed the tank."
Pictures were sent to NASA engineers at Kennedy Space Center, and experts quickly confirmed that the tank must have been part of Columbia, she said. Several of the tanks have already been recovered in past years.
The shuttle disintegrated on its way back to Earth in 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board and leaving a trail of debris that spanned several hundred miles.
The cause of the accident was later linked to a faulty heat shield that had been damaged by a piece of foam that broke fee shortly after liftoff.
Malone said 38-40 percent of the shuttle has been recovered, and local communities throughout Texas and Louisiana still report discoveries of bits of the spacecraft several times every year.
"We are trying to make plans to get it shipped back to Florida," said Malone, who noted that it will soon join other parts of Columbia stored at Kennedy Space Center.
"The area where it is located is real soft and mushy, and we can't even get a vehicle over there. The tank
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
I still remember reading the thread on FR that morning. Gawd, it was awful watching hope and expectation turn to tragedy.
Here’s the thread for those who weren’t there: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833885/posts
That is one of the most memorable threads ever. That and 9/11 morning. Lot’s of very smart and knowledgeable people of FR.
Yes indeed. Like so many others that Saturday morning, I had never really followed a shuttle landing before. Man! If there is a “Hall of Fame” for threads, the Challenger thread would get in on the first ballot.
Funny looking at all those old-time Freeper names....everything has changed so much since then.
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