Summary: Although most of the Columbia Shuttle debris was found in east Texas and southern Louisiana, debris recovery teams searched an area from the north west town of Littlefield, across the Parker County area. Today, 01 February 2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Columbia Shuttle tragedy.
Latest Update: Monday, 30 January, 2023
Falling Across Texas, Remembering the Columbia Shuttle
Columbia’s Commander Rick Husband read Joshua 1:9 to his astronauts, “Have not I commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Although most of the Columbia Shuttle debris was found in east Texas and southern Louisiana, debris recovery teams searched an area from the north west town of Littlefield, across the Parker County area, to southern Louisiana. Today, 01 February 2023 marks the twentieth anniversary of the Columbia Shuttle tragedy.
“Columbia was destroyed during reentry on Feb. 1, 2003, after a piece of fuel-tank foam came off and punctured the left wing during liftoff 16 days earlier. The shuttle broke apart over Texas, just 16 minutes from its planned Florida touchdown.” 2
“At 8:58:21 am, the orbiter shed a TPS tile that would later land in Littlefield, Texas; it would become the westernmost piece of recovered debris. By 9:35 am, all debris and crew remains were estimated to have impacted the ground… In the months after the disaster, the largest-ever organized ground search took place… The search for Columbia debris ended in May.” 1
“The first debris began falling to the ground in West Texas near Lubbock at 8:58 a.m. One minute later, the last communication from the crew of five men and two women was heard, and at 9 a.m. the shuttle disintegrated over northeast Texas, near Dallas… Residents in the area heard a loud boom and saw streaks of smoke in the sky. Debris and the remains of the crew were found in more than 2,000 locations across East Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana.” 3
“On February 1, 2003, a sonic boom jarred Special Agent Brent Chambers as he was preparing to mow his lawn outside of Dallas on a chilly Saturday morning.
"'I knew it was something bad,' said Chambers, now retired. He jumped in his car, turned on the police radio, and learned the news: NASA’s space shuttle Columbia had broken up as it re-entered the atmosphere. The deep rumble, which started just before 8 a.m. Central time, marked the explosive end of the shuttle and the tragic death of all seven astronauts on board.
"[The FBI was] part of a massive team of professionals and volunteers—more than 25,000 people from 270 organizations helped search 2.3 million acres.
"In addition to recovering the crew—all within a five-mile area—searchers also recovered about 38 percent of the shuttle, according to NASA: more than 84,000 pieces of the orbiter, weighing about 84,900 pounds." 4
"In the days following the Columbia space shuttle’s disintegration over East Texas 20 years ago, the Piney Woods of Sabine County became hallowed ground. As part of the recovery team seeking the Columbia’s remains in the wilderness, local Baptist pastor and volunteer firefighter Fred Raney found himself leading impromptu memorial services, what he calls 'chapels in the forest.'"1
Sources and Additional Articles
1. Hemphill Remembers the Columbia Disaster 20 Years Later, Texas Highway
3. Space Shuttle Columbia Disaster, History.com
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