Space Shuttle's Nose Cone Found Near La (Louisiana, that is)

Associated Press

[bonesmccoy]

Appears to be a portion of the undersurface of the orbiter. Black tiles have been stripped away from the underlying structure, leaving the white silica core visible. Of particular interest is the corner tile which reminds me of the outboard trailing edge of the right wing. If the left wing leading edge and underside were responsible for the loss of vehicle, then that debris should not be located in Louisiana or Texas. The debris in La or Tx should be the material furthest from the structure that lacked TPS protection.

[Rebelbase]

You can find USGS topgraphic maps online at Topozone.com...very cool site!

[Mr Fowl]

I liked the first pic better!

How about this one?
Snowgeese doo doo on the ice! LMAO ROF!

[bonesmccoy]

[Ramius]

In pure jealousy I type... looks like good hunting, friend. I'll be offline for a bit. Thanks for the pics. Enjoyed them.

[deport]

Thanks those are nice. I used to carry many of them in my boat while fishing....

I'm not sure what the poster wanted, if he wanted a topo map or a flight path map. I suspect it was a flight path map....

[okie01]

Topo map of Hemphill, TX and surrounding area, including parts of Toledo Bend Reservoir.

Note that the land is a.) gently rolling, b.) densely wooded and c.) sparsely populated.

To date, something like 90% of the photos and reports I've seen have related to debris landing in a populated area, a rural residential lot or "between the fences" on a road or highway. Since that accounts for only about 2% of the territory actually within the debris field, there must be literally a jillion pieces of debris in the woods.

Call it a "needle in a haystack" or "shrapnel in the woods", East Texas deer and turkey hunters will be coming across debris for years to come.

[Mr Fowl]

In pure jealousy I type... looks like good hunting, friend. I'll be offline for a bit. Thanks for the pics. Enjoyed them.

Anytime!
Bed time for Me, Be Safe!

[ApesForEvolution]

It's extremely interesting to know that the nose cone was found that far EAST...doesn't paint a pretty picture of the last 5 minutes at.

[SuziQ]

Why is it in every other state a county is a county, but in Louisiana its a Parish?

Probably because Louisiana was French territory, and was well established before it became part of America with the Louisiana purchase. The Catholic Church was crucial to its founding, so the areas were called Parishes because they were most likely settled around the local Parish Church.

The Napoleanic code, also heavily influenced by the Church, was the basis for the State laws, and because of that, many things were different from the surrounding states. Though there was still legal slavery, slaves had to be allowed to legally marry, and in the Church if they wanted, and could not be sold away from their families. In most other states, inheritance was through the eldest son of the family. In Louisiana, if there was no elder son, or if he had died, and there was a daughter next, SHE inherited from her father. Women had more legal rights in Louisiana than other states.

[MississippiMan]

Back around Christmas I was on Highway 61 down the MS Delta, when we spotted what looked like a mammoth flock of blackbirds, one of those strings that goes on for miles. I kept looking and realized they weren't blackbirds, but Canada geese. We pulled over and stared in amazement. Never saw anything like it. I would estimate tens of thousands. They stretched north and south as far as the eye could see, in a flock perhaps a half-mile wide. Then while we were watching, they started splitting up into dozens of huge v-formations--talking about just the portion of the flock that was directly over us. Easily the most awesome spectacle of wild animals I've ever seen. The cacophony of honking was unbelievable. Didn't have a camera. :-(

MM

[MississippiMan]

Back around Christmas I was on Highway 61 down the MS Delta, when we spotted what looked like a mammoth flock of blackbirds, one of those strings that goes on for miles. I kept looking and realized they weren't blackbirds, but Canada geese. We pulled over and stared in amazement. Never saw anything like it. I would estimate tens of thousands. They stretched north and south as far as the eye could see, in a flock perhaps a half-mile wide. Then while we were watching, they started splitting up into dozens of huge v-formations--talking about just the portion of the flock that was directly over us. Easily the most awesome spectacle of wild animals I've ever seen. The cacophony of honking was unbelievable. Didn't have a camera. :-(

MM

[Phil V.]

Anyway, when the camera zooms in at first it looks like the shuttle is going sideways with the rear of the shuttle facing camera and the left wing facing the direction of travel!

I saw that too. I also heard that the left side of the fuselage (topside of the left wing) was showing a significantly higher temperature than the right. My gut says that there is more here. I think that the close-up was from a telescope in California, but I'm not sure.

[Phil V.]

. . . on the other hand, it could have been the camera lens' iris . . .

[TigersEye]

bump

[capitan_refugio]

Around my inlaw's home in Tennessee, they are still finding relicts of the Civil War. For that matter, a piece of the shuttle Challeger washed up on a Florida beach recently. People will be finding parts for years and years to come.

[capitan_refugio]

Saw SuziQ's reply too, but I think in Alaska, counties are called "burroughs." Can anyone in the Great White North help me out on this?

[Lurking2Long]

Maybe one day you'll remember to thank Him for giving you your life...

[1Old Pro]

The goal is to try to reconstruct what's left of Columbia, and establish a sequence of how each part peeled off during the shuttle's ill-fated journey home.

Too bad NASA doesn't have high definition cameras strategically plaed so as to take high quality photos of the re-entry of all shuttle flights.

[Monty22]

The live recording of communications on spaceflightnow.com have basically given me nightmares. Lots of noise and static, but also human voices in there.

Awful, awful..