Mark, these pictures may prove invaluable at some point in time, as evidence often gets lost in transit. The fact that some materials made it through re-entry and other stuff didnt will be of great help in designing future shuttles. Thanks. yoe
These pictures are indeed sobering. It causes me to wonder if the crew, doing what they needed to do in preperation for landing, had some awareness of the dire and fatal situation in which they were. If they did, I can only imagine the courage of those people had in the face of this most awful fear.
The maps of Texas which show the locations of found debris helps us understand how far the Columbia fell. And with the exception of the apt that burned yesterday, it is a blessing from God that people on the ground were not injured and that there was not horrific damage done to property.
There is a lot to be learned from this event and I agree with the poster who suggested that these photos are going to be useful to that end.