The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 165, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 6, 2003 Page: 1 of 8
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TAC
February 6, 2003
Tarleton State University Weekly News • Since 1919
Volume 165, Number 3
mmr American mgady
Seven astronauts die as space shuttle disentergrates in the skies over Texas
Saturday morning; Bush pays tribute as debris continues to be found
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Irwin Thompson, The Dallas Morning News
HOUSTON - Luminaries placed in memory of the seven crew members of the space shuttle Columbia clow near a memorial at the entrance to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Recovery of shuttle
debris continues in . , «««,,
Texas, Louisiana *
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By Jennifer Emily and Dave Michaels
The Dallas Morning News
LUFKIN - While pausing with the nation to
remember seven heroes, teams searching for their
remains and scattered spacecraft pressed ahead,
counting among their finds a cockpit seat, part of
the landing gear and a uniform patch with a Star of
David.
The recovery of debris and body parts from the
space shuttle Columbia escalated across East Texas
and into Louisiana, as authorities added people
. and tpols to the task of piecing together what hap-
pened in the sky Saturday morning.
The job ahead seems gargantuan, but searchers
are making progress, authorities said.
"We're very pleased with the way this is going/'
said Greg Cohrs, director of the ground search in
Sabine County. "This is a huge task."
Searchers have checked 400 reported debris sites
in the county, but have covered less than 5 of the
1,000 square miles targeted for exploration, he said.
The hunt will go on "as long as it takes or as long
as NASA asks us to," said Marcus Beard, a U.S.
Forest Service district ranger.
By Tuesday afternoon, more than 12,000 pieces of
the Obliterated craft had been collected in Texas,
said Win Henderson, a spokesman for the Federal
Emergency Management Agency.
State and federal authorities say shuttle debris
has been found in 38 counties in Texas and 19
Louisiana parishes.
The Environmental Protection Agency had gath-
ered 118 bags of debris from 74 Texas locations,
Henderson said. The collections include 37 sites in
Ellis County. In Louisiana, 22 of 36 locations had
been cleared, he said.
And federal authorities were trying to verify
reported debris in California, Arizona and Nevada
- evidence that could shed light on the breakup's
earliest moments.
Besides finding the Star of David patch - pre-
sumably that of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon -
Louisiana residents have also found one of the
spacecraft's engines.
Debris sites near 17 Texas schools have been
cleared, Henderson said, and classes resumed
Tuesday at 31 schools closed because of possible
contamination.
All items will end up at Barksdale Air Force Base
near Shreveport. Interim collection sites have been
established at the former Carswell Air Force Base
9
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Ian McVea, Fort Worth Star- lelegram
BRONSON - A boot sole, apparently from a space-
suit boot belonging to a crew member of the
space shuttle columbia, was tagged where it land-
ed with other debris near a home in Bronson
Saturday.
in Fort Worth and at National Guard Camp
Beauregard near Alexandria, La.
Local residents are joining almost 2,000 Texas
National Guard troops and federal, state and local
investigators in combing pastures, woods and
lakes, authorities said.
The Texas National Guard has deployed 486 sol-
diers around Nacogdoches and Lufkin while the
Texas Department of Public Safety has dispatched
more than 350 officers.
Civilian support teams from Arkansas,
Oklahoma and New Mexico are helping with the
Texas search. Equipment includes 18 helicopters
from the Texas Air National Guard, two DPS air-
craft and a field kitchen provided by Texas Baptist
Men.
See DEBRIS page 5
Bush memorializes 7 astronauts,
says space program 'will go on'
By Ron Hutcheson and
Shawn Windsor
Knight Ridder Newspapers
HOUSTON - Standing before
the weeping relatives of the lost
shuttle astronauts, President
Bush on Tuesday invoked their
memory with a vow that
"America's space program will
go on."
Bush made the commitment
to an emotional audience, of
more than 10,000 NASA work-
ers and contractors who gath-
ered at the space agency's
headquarters for a tearful
farewell to the seven astronauts
of the space shuttle Columbia.
Despite the size of the crowd,
the memorial felt more like a
private chapel service as NASA
workers shared anecdotes
about their co-workers who
died Saturday morning when
the shuttle broke up over Texas.
Bush said the seven astronauts
fulfilled "an ancient dream of
humanity" by leaving behind
"Earth and air and gravity" in a
quest for knowledge.
"This cause of exploration
and discovery is not an option
we choose; it is a desire written
in the human heart," he said.
"We are that part of creation
which seeks to understand all
creation."
His reaffirmation of support
for the space program was a
comforting message to a crowd
with an intensely personal
interest in Saturday's disaster.
Bush and his wife, Laura, sat
among more than two dozen
relatives of the fallen astro-
nauts.
Other audience members
laughed knowingly when
Navy Capt. Kent Rominger, the
chief of the astronaut corps,
offered a series of anecdotes
about all seven astronauts. He
recalled the shuttle crew's high-
spirited antics at the last NASA
holiday party, when they
slapped temporary tattoos with
the mission's identifying desig-
nation - STS-107 - on anyone
who came near their table.
"The world lost seven heroes.
We lost seven family mem-
bers," , Rominger said.
Addressing his departed col-
leagues by name, he added: "I
know you're listening. Please
know you're in our hearts. We
will always smile when we
think of you."
Seventeen years ago, NASA
hosted a similar remembrance
for the crew of the space shuttle
Challenger, which exploded
over Florida shortly after take-
off. NASA administrator Sean
O'Keefe promised a thorough
investigation of the most recent
accident "to make sure it never
happens again."
As Bush, O'Keefe and others
spoke, 134 miles away in
Nacogdoches County and
beyond, teams of searchers
continued combing the path
where debris from Columbia
fell on Saturday. They foiind a
cockpit seat and human
remains on Tuesday, and
NASA spokesman Michael
Kostelnik said the search for
more debris is likely to take
"weeks, rather than months."
NASA on Tuesday sent teams
to California and Arizona to
investigate reports that debris
also fell there, which would
suggest that the spacecraft
might have begun to break up
earlier in its descent than inves-
tigators originally believed.
"Debris early in the flight
path would be critical because
that material would obviously
be near the start of the events,"
Kostelnik said. "There are sites
in Arizona and California
where we suspect that there is
some debris."
Kostelnik, however, cau-
tioned that it's not clear that
debris in the western states
came from Columbia.
As the investigation pressed
forward, Harold W. Gehman,
the retired admiral appointed
to oversee the debris search
teams, toured the area Tuesday
and said: "We're not going to
solve this today ... We have no
timetable."
Outside the gates of NASA's
headquarters, hundreds of
other people held their own
makeshift memorial service.
"We love our astronauts here
just as they love their firemen
in New York," said Kathryn
Lott, a Clear Lake resident who
came on her lunch break. While
some mourners placed flowers
or read poems, others simply
milled about.
"Every person coming out
here has some type of hurt,"
said Gene Grounds, the direc-
tor of Victim Chaplain, a
Dallas-based Baptist disaster-
relief organization.
John Cobarruvias brought his
8-year-old son, David, who
was dressed in a blue astronaut
flight suit. Cobarruvias could-
n't express why he had come.
"Hard to explain," said the
NASA computer analyst.
Bush, who paid tribute to
each of the seven astronauts
individually, said they faced
the risks of their work with joy.
"Yet, some explorers do not
return. And the loss settles
unfairly on a few," Bush said.
"To the children who miss your
Mom or Dad so much today,
you need to know, they love
you, and that love will always
be with you."
Bush recalled that
Commander Rick Husband,
See MEMORIAL page 5
Opinion
News
News
Cason White questions the tactics of the ! Dr. McCabe tried to ease some concerns j Officials at Tarleton - CT in Killeen cele-
media when reporting the news. Should i of faculty and staff Monday saying that j brate the first year of an African-American
we try to report more positive news? j jobs will be secure in the short term. j research center..
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The J-TAC (Stephenville, Tex.), Vol. 165, No. 3, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 6, 2003, newspaper, February 6, 2003; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth142045/m1/1/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Tarleton State University.