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NASA: Shuttle parts reported in SouthwestDebris so far west could offer valuable clues, official says
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- NASA is investigating what it called "credible reports" that debris from space shuttle Columbia has been found in California, New Mexico and Arizona. NASA assistant Administrator Michael Kostelnik said in a briefing Tuesday afternoon that teams were being dispatched to those states to investigate the reported findings. "It's not clear what the material is ... potentially it could be wing material," he said. The discovery of debris so far west could provide invaluable clues as to what caused the shuttle to break up as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere Saturday, killing all seven crew members. "Early debris, early in the flight path, would be critical because that material would obviously be near the start of the events," Kostelnik said. "It would clearly be very important to see the material earliest in the sequence." Most of the debris rained down over a 28,000-square-mile section of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. Heavy pieces of Columbia's engines were found in Louisiana on Tuesday, Kostelnik said. (Map) And in Sabine County, Texas, near Hemphill, searchers found pieces of the shuttle's fuselage, a circuit board and landing gear, all of which could also be central to the investigation. (List of debris) Forty-six agencies and 600 people took part in the search Tuesday. The shuttle's nose cone, found in Sabine County on Monday, has been removed from its 20-foot hole and wrapped, ready to be taken to a central location for debris. The Environmental Protection Agency is in charge of removing debris. As the recovery effort continues over an expanding swath of the United States, Kostelnik said crews had cleared shuttle debris from schoolyards in 17 Texas counties, allowing children at those sites to go back to school Wednesday. (Why debris might be toxic) "That was a yeoman's work over the evening to get debris cleared out of that area," he said. For the first time Tuesday, the eight-member board charged with investigating the Columbia disaster visited Nacogdoches, Texas. Mangled electrical components were found at one of the two sites they visited. "Looking at the debris and being out here on site makes this accident more personal to us," said retired Navy Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., who heads the independent panel. "It brings it home, more real for us. It prevents it from becoming an abstract event." Nacogdoches is the federal staging area for the military aircraft that will carry away the debris. At the Hemphill Command Center, emergency coordinator Billy Ted Smith and Sabine County Sheriff Tommy Maddox told reporters that more human remains were discovered by searchers working through the night. The men didn't say where or at how many sites the remains were found. The sheriff of Nacogdoches County to the west said Monday that body parts had been found in at least 15 sites. Meanwhile, divers used sonar to search a reservoir on the Texas-Louisiana state line for possible debris, including a piece the size of a compact car that witnesses said splashed into the water. Smith said it wasn't clear if divers would go underwater Tuesday. The reservoir, which washes past Shelby, Sabine and Newton counties on the Texas side, covers 185,000 acres and is 110 feet at its deepest point, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Web site. It supplies drinking water to surrounding areas. State officials have run tests and assured residents that the drinking water is safe. Three hundred National Guard members, 100 local volunteers and about 200 firefighters joined the search Tuesday. Airplanes and helicopters, including two military Apache helicopters, aided the teams. Their primary target was the Sabine National Forest north of Hemphill, Maddox said.
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