Crews Scour Texas, La. for Shuttle Debris - Human Remains Found? (With Email from NASA to Freeper)

AP NEWS ^ | 2 Feb, 2003 | AP

[Happy2BMe]

Examination of debris from the space shuttle Columbia continued Sunday, as residents in Texas and Louisiana stumbled upon human remains and wreckage while crews scoured hundreds of square miles in an effort to piece together the tragedy.

In Hemphill, near the Louisiana state line, hospital employee Mike Gibbs reported finding what appeared to be a charred torso, thigh bone and skull on a rural road near what appeared to be other debris. Billy Smith, an emergency coordinator for three East Texas counties, confirmed the find.

"I wouldn't want anybody seeing what I saw," Gibbs said. "It was pretty gruesome."

On a farm, also in Sabine County, two young boys found a charred human leg, The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday. "From the hip to the foot, it's all there, scorched from the fire," said their father, Bob White.

Full story HERE

[Happy2BMe]

Hearts, prayers, and support go out to the family and friends of the Shuttle Crew.

[tall_tex]

Amen.

I just got to my office and received an E mail from Milt Heflin, who assisted in holding the news conference at NASA in Houston yesterday afternoon;. He is the Chief Flight Director at NASA. I would like to post it as it is very moving. Needless to say I do not know how.

If I could forward it to somone that could post it on FR I think many would like to read it.

Can any one help me out? Tom

[EggsAckley]

Why not just cut and paste it to a post?

[jkhrainbow]

ping

[TomServo]

Take the email text and highlight it. Right click mouse and press (select) copy. In the reply section of FR, position cursor in 'Your Reply', right click mouse and press (select) paste.

[L`enn]

I am posting this for Tall_tex. This e-mail is written to him and his classmates. Thank you for letting me post this for you.

Milt was president of my high school senior class, a great friend and has been an inspiration for all of his classmates. All the recipients of this E mail are members of our graduating class

From: Milt Heflin
Sent: Saturday, February 01, 2003 11:44 PM

Subject: A Bad Day...

....it's after 11:00 p.m. and I have been in Mission Control since 7:00 a.m. this morning...finally got home where I could share the love and caring of Sally and call and talk to my two boys...the team did a marvelous job of doing what they are supposed to do when an event like this happens...I have now experienced three loss of life tragedies in our human space flight program, the Apollo 1 fire, 7 months after I started work at NASA, the Challenger in 1986 and now loss of Columbia and her crew of seven...each of these tragedies occurring within the same last week in late January...today, at a press conference I said something to this effect...this is a bad day...I'm so glad that I live and work in a country where we can fix bad days...and we will fix this...later I also reflected on had sad it is that it takes tragedies to bring people together...and as a great country, we can do better than that...today my work phone mail had several messages from colleagues that have left this business saying that if there was anything they could do to let them know...what wonderful messages to receive...
I will be returning to Mission Control tomorrow to began another uncharted journey as we have two Americans and one Russian on our Space Station where we use the Space Shuttle to change out crews...after the Challenger accident a cartoon appeared showing a covered wagon heading west with no driver of the wagon...the caption said something about deciding to continue westward discovery "unmanned"...I will serve my remaining days in this agency being damned sure that our covered wagons are manned.... Not sure why I sat down here this evening and wrote this to you, my classmates...maybe it's the mortal feeling I have tonight....
Milt

[Happy2BMe]

wow - historic! Thanks for sharing, Tall Tex!

[Happy2BMe]

Memories Of The Challenger

[tall_tex]

...maybe its the mortal feeling I have tonight....

I think we could learn from this bit of reverence.. Tom

[Happy2BMe]

"I think we could learn from this bit of reverence.. "

We surely can and will, dear friend.

This loss and it's impact will have far more reaching affects than to our space program alone.

The analogy of the wagon continuing westward (into space) being fully manned is prophetic... it will assuredly happen.

This was a terrible blow to NASA and the U.S., but there will be far more good that comes from it than the immediate suffering now being felt.

America must know that while some danced in celebration over our national pain, we know who we are and what we as a nation must do to preserve our way of life and freedom.

And one thing we will NEVER do - and that is quit! This is where enemies of ours have always made their fatal mistake - and we have always prevailed against them.

[Servant of the Nine]

In Hemphill, near the Louisiana state line, hospital employee Mike Gibbs reported finding what appeared to be a charred torso

Flight has been restricted below 3,000 feet over the debris field. That is to keep things like this from apearing in helicopter shots on Eye-Witness News.

So9

[Otta B Sleepin]

Thank you for sharing this with us.

I was touched yesterday by the openness, vulnerability, and graciousness of the NASA representatives who spoke at the briefing and press conference. The courage of the Columbia astronauts was reflected in a different way through these men. They didn't try to hide their pain but shared their feelings with us, and they patiently answered the reporters' questions when I'm sure that press conference was the last place they wanted to be at that moment.

My heart goes out to the families of the Columbia astronauts and to the extended NASA "family" - I am praying for all of them.

[pwatson]

I was really proud of Texas yesterday, the KRLD reporters who left Dallas for East Texas at 10am said the road was already lined with flags at half mast on the way. Many Texans planted American flags next the the parts they found. Its un-real how much this President has had to deal with, First a DemoRat attack in courts of his election, 9-11 and the war against the Talaban, then the Enron and Worldcom crooks, a terrorist in Iraq and one in Korea and now a space shuttle crashing across the Texas state. The Dallas Morning News Sunday has a cartoon showing the "New stars over Texas" with a star and the names of each Astronaut.

[Happy2BMe]

" The courage of the Columbia astronauts was reflected in a different way through these men."

I think the courage of the American Spirit shown through them rather proudly - the Home of The Free, Land of The Brave.

[Happy2BMe]

"Its un-real how much this President has had to deal with, First a DemoRat attack in courts of his election, 9-11 and the war against the Talaban, then the Enron and Worldcom crooks, a terrorist in Iraq and one in Korea and now a space shuttle crashing across the Texas state."

I think about this every time I see the antiwar protestors sliming up and down sidewalks otherwise used by humans.

Tradegy does one of two things; it either unites or it divides.

There are many in this nation that would do everything in their power to use something as horrible as even this to degrade our President and belittle us to the world.

I say this tradegy will only strengthen America and unite us.

You are right, President Bush has had to deal with more tradegy and division than any president since the Civil War - and I could think of no other President I would rather have than him to do it - we're all proud of "Dubya."

The "Anti - - Anti-war" Wave. What Should It Be? What Should It Look Like?

[sonofatpatcher2]

A very interesting shuttle tile is Here.

I can only post on Geocities and have little bandwidth to post, so perhaps someone can post it for me.

I inverted the photo on my computer and the writing reads:
V070-1911
-076 (or G) MN00

With these numbers, the tile should be traced to its exact location. It came from Kerens, Texas, 65 miles SE of Dallas and another tile is in Rice, Texas, 45 miles S of Dallas on I-45. If these tile came from under the left wing, that would place its failure at the top of the debris field.

[Otta B Sleepin]

I think the courage of the American Spirit shown through them rather proudly - the Home of The Free, Land of The Brave

Well said.

[Happy2BMe]

The Home of The Free The Land of The Brave

[Happy2BMe]

"Down - Slow"

A piece of Columbia that fell near Hwy 309 Texas in Kerens, southeast of south of Dallas

[Otta B Sleepin]

Awesome! I'm saving this one.