First Pieces Fall in Texas
Within minutes after the accident there were reports of debris falling in East Texas. Many saw pieces falling and hitting the ground. Some of the pieces fell in populated areas and were easy to find.
But much of the debris was in the woods, early indications that much of the search for the pieces would be extremely difficult.
Satellite Images
The commercial Earth resources satellite Ikonos flew over Texas several hours after the accident. Ikonos's engineers sent commands to reprogram their satellite to take photos of the area based on the early news reports. This full resolution map of the town was taken within a couple of hours of the accident. The closeup shows the town center.
Only the largest images could be seen. Obviously ones which fell in populated areas which could be seen on the satellite images could also be easily seen from the ground. One large piece which fell in a bank's parking lot can be spotted on the satellite images and photos taken at ground level.
Ikonos's images were more useful for spotting areas in the forest where the debris had broken tree canopies, especially for lager more reflective pieces.
Determining Where the Debris Fell
The Forest Resources Institute at Stephen F. Austin State University quickly determined the most likely places to find debris based on where early debris was spotted.They generated several maps of the debris zone.
Recovery Operations in the Field
The debris footprint for Columbia was 240 miles long and 10 miles wide. Most of the debris fell in a 4 x 210 mile strip. The only way to find most of the debris was with human eyeballs. People had to comb over 840 square miles.
Most of the searchers were off-season forest firefighters. A large percentage of firefighters are American Indians and 256 different groups participated in the recovery operations. Here's the story of one searcher with a connection to the mission.
David McLaughlin, an American Indian Laguna firefighter from New Mexico, told his colleagues "I knew I couldn't change what happened, but I did everything I could in the effort to get us back to flying again. I've been especially moved by my enthusiasm and determination of my crew to push through the briars and find every piece of the puzzle they can, and did they ever."
It wasn't luxurious for the searchers, they lived in tents inside a warehouse and ate in mess tents. There was entertainment available and many astronauts visited the camps to shake hands with the searchers, sign autographs, and thank them personally for their efforts.
Hundreds of NASA personnel were involved in the search and recovery operations including many astronauts. Here's how astronaut John Herrington participated.
Here's a couple of anecdotes about the search and recovery operations.
It was the largest coordinated search operation in history and the net result was 84,124 pieces from Columbia.
The recovery operations were marred by a helicopter crash on March 27, killing Jules “Buzz” Mier (in black coat) and Charles Krenek (yellow coat) and injuring the three other occupants (not in this photo). Photo courtesy of the CAIB.
Why Was NASA so Lucky?
One of the biggest myths was that it was a “miracle” nobody was hurt or killed by debris. It's been repeated many times: NASA was incredibly lucky nobody was killed. It's often said it's fortunate the accident happened on a Saturday morning, when most people were still at home, with the implication that if it happened on a weekday with more people outside, the results would have been different. Why was NASA so lucky?A little common sense shows it isn't surprising at all – in fact it would have been surprising if anybody was hit by debris. The simple fact is people are small, buildings are large. That's pretty obvious, but something many people don't think about when they believe it was a miracle nobody was hurt.
84,124 pieces of debris were recovered during the primary search operations. 84,124 pieces divided by 2,400 square miles, works out to just 35 pieces per square mile. Even if you assume every person under Columbia's flight path was a large adult lying down outdoors, the odds of any individual getting hit were less than 1 in 41,000. And even if somebody was hit by a piece of debris, it would not necessarily result in an injury. Getting hit by a lightweight cloth patch falling from a height of 38 miles feels identical to getting hit by a lightweight cloth patch falling from a height of 10 feet.
What the statistic does show is how difficult it was to find the debris. On average, each square mile searched produced only 35 pieces of debris. That's why it took such an intense effort to recover everything.
Early Debris Arrives in Florida
Some of the earliest items found included the 37 and 46 inch diameter PRSD (Propellant Reactant Storage Distribution) tanks which held the liquid hydrogen and oxygen used to generate power and water during the 17 day mission. They had survived through the accident remarkably unscathed, the super-cold propellants inside prevented the aluminum tanks from melting and much of the damage was the result of hitting the surface.As each piece of debris was found it was photographed in place and its position determined with a GPS receiver. The debris was taken to Barksdale AFB in Louisiana, cataloged and then shipped to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe examines a PRSD at Barksdale AFB |
Astronauts John Young and Mark Kelly inspect tanks after they arrive in Florida |
A PRSD in Florida in the reconstruction hangar |
Reconstructing Columbia in Florida
The State of Florida spent $4.1 Million to build a hangar with the hopes that future reusable rockets would want to use it. But they never appeared and the only use for the hangar was as an overpriced warehouse. It was the most suitable place to reassemble Columbia's debris. A grid was laid out on the floor along with an oversize template of Columbia's major components. As debris arrived it was placed on the grid. As more and more pieces arrived the debris told its story.
As a consideration to the families of the astronauts the debris from the crew cabin and crew equipment was kept in a separate room with limited access. Cards and banners sent to NASA decorated the exterior of the room.
A table was built in the shape of the left wing with a pattern showing where each tile belonged. Engineers put the recovered tiles on the table like a jigsaw puzzle. Even places where tiles were missing helped tell the story. There was a wedge-shaped area without any tiles because they were destroyed by the reentry heat.
Shuttle reconstruction chair Mike Leinbach (right) points out specific pieces of debris to author Philip Chien in this official NASA photo |
An overview of the reconstruction of Columbia in mid-May |
Plexiglas displays were made for the left wing RCC panels so they could be examined in the proper orientation. As the panels were mounted it became extremely clear that the greatest damage was around RCC #8.
A Piece of a Patch
Surveyor Gregg Saxon of Saxon Surveying found a fragment of a CBSE cloth patch in a field several days after the accident. The patch was part of a set of souvenirs intended for handout after the mission to those who had participated in the experiment and VIPs.Pieces From Payloads
Besides pieces from the space shuttle Columbia many pieces of payloads were found. Some were able to still produce useful science, others were barely recognizable.One of the most bizarre looking debris looked like an octopus. The MEDUSA (Micro-Effusion Delivery Unit for Space Applications) was a set of water delivery tubes for the Biotube experiment.
The combustion module's main ring |
The combustion module's hard drive case |
Biotube's MEDUSA |
Following a Piece of Debris
The shuttle uses pressurized helium to operate pneumatic equipment and push propellants through the lines to the maneuvering engines. The Helium tanks are high pressure vessels overwrapped to increase the strength of the tanks.
There are several helium tanks on each shuttle so these photos are probably not the exact same piece.
Final Press Tour - September 11, 2003
The press had a final opportunity to view Columbia's debris in the reconstruction hangar. It was an emotional visit, and anything which was easily recognizable was especially intense. In some cases pieces were barely recognizable, in other cases they looked good enough to use again.
One of the most personal items was Window 10, the port aft flight deck window. This window was used to take the fisheye photo of Spacehab which was released during the mission and one of the windows Willie McCool looked through as he saw the incredible sunrise he talked to Laurel Clark about in a tape which survived the accident.
Searching For Early Debris
NASA tried to locate pieces that came off before Columbia broke apart over Texas. The “early” debris was especially valuable because it would provide information about why and how things went wrong.
About 2,900 eyewitnesses contacted NASA. Most of their reports were of little use because they came from untrained observers, few of whom had seen a previous shuttle reentry to provide a point of comparison. Even experienced astronomers have difficulties estimating distances and velocities at night.
NASA received 150 videotapes and 1,500 photos from the public that showed Columbia’s journey over the Western U.S. Aircraft radar also tracked some of the falling pieces. While most were shot by inexperienced videographers, some of the videotapes provided valuable information, especially when abnormal events occurred.
23 videos from the public and 2 from government sources showed something out of the ordinary. Many of the videos overlapped each other, giving NASA nearly continuous footage of the reentry from over the Pacific Ocean before Columbia reached California through New Mexico. There was a gap between New Mexico and Western Texas, which isn’t surprising given the low population density. A total of 24 unexpected events, including pieces coming off, large flashes of light, and unexpected “knots” in the plasma trail, were seen over California, Nevada, and New Mexico, with another 10 over Texas.
By examining how objects behaved in the videos, engineers could estimate where an object fell. The challenge is narrow the search to a reasonable area. But even then it would be incredibly difficult to try to find a piece of debris smaller than a square foot in a couple of hundred square miles of difficult terrain.
Did NASA Search in the Wrong Place?
Space scientist Rob Matson determined that NASA's search for Debris #6 in Caliente, Nevada was off by 50 miles. NASA’s search area was 85 miles north of Las Vegas west of Elgin Nevada, and a second search area 120 miles North of Las Vegas, 20 miles from Utah. But Rob Matson's analysis resulted in a location of 37.44 degrees north and 114.00 degrees west. Matson said, "It puts it just over the Nevada-Utah border into Utah. Looking on a map it's in the Cougar Canyon area a little to the southeast of Beaver Dam State Park." Matson said he spent hundreds of hours working on the problem because, "I couldn't figure for the life of me why [NASA was] searching where they were searching - it makes no sense."
Still Out There
Additional pieces have been found by chance, including some fairly large items. A six-foot piece, including one of the two overhead windows, was found in Newton County, Texas, in September 2004 in a water-runoff area. The piece had moss growing over a section of the window after so much time outdoors.
The astronauts use the overhead windows to take most of their photos of the Earth. Window 8 was also a emergency exit in case the main hatch is blocked. A small explosive charge ejects the window. Then each of the astronauts has to climb on top of the MS2 seat and do a pushup to get on top of the shuttle. Each astronaut has a cable with an automatic pulley device to “mountain climb” down the shuttle’s exterior. The astronauts practice how to lift themselves out and slide to the ground. The escape kits for the astronauts with the ropes and descent devices are in numbered white cloth bags on the flight deck’s ceiling and visible in many of the photos.
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Satellite photos by Space Imaging.
Some photos courtesy of the "Daily Sentinel".
Helicopter crew courtesy of the CAIB.
CBCE patch fragment photo courtesy of Gregg Saxon.
Debris 6 search footprint map courtesy of Rob Matson.
MEDUSA photo courtesy of Dr. Karl Hasenstein.
Combustion Module pieces courtesy of Dr. Paul Ronney.
Other photos from the author's collection and NASA.
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