High over Texas and just short of home, space shuttle Columbia fell to pieces Saturday, raining debris over hundreds of miles of countryside. Seven astronauts perished
NACOGDOCHES (AP) Debris rained down Saturday over hundreds of square miles of Texas and Louisiana, smashing a rooftop, splashing into a reservoir and sending emergency crews on a far-flung hunt for bits of what was once space shuttle Columbia. Across the city of Nacogdoches and the surrounding region of pine forest, residents found chunks of debris. A small tank rested on a runway. A steel rod with silver bolts was roped off behind yellow police tape in a yard. A piece of metal rested in a bank parking lot. Authorities urged the public to report any debris but not touch it for fear of contamination from toxic substances. The Army sent in helicopters and soldiers to locate and guard bits of wreckage, which could be pivotal in determining the cause of the disaster.
A Temple woman said uneasy thoughts of a terrorist attack crossed her mind when she watched the space shuttle Columbia break apart as it descended through the atmosphere during re-entry Saturday. Irma Quinteros, 53, and her nephew, Erin Vasquez, 8, sat in her car Saturday morning waiting for soccer practice at the Korompai Soccer Field on East Adams Avenue to begin when they saw it. She said it was Erin who saw it first and pointed it out to her in complete agitation. Dan Archer and Jerry Larson, two local media professionals, were eyewitnesses to Saturday
CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Investigators trying to figure out what destroyed space shuttle Columbia immediately focused on the left wing and the possibility that its thermal tiles were damaged far more seriously than NASA realized by a piece of debris during liftoff. Just a little over a minute into Columbia
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sportsTam Hollingshead will become Temple
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obituariesfuneral noticesThere were no funeral notices published. |
