NASA seeks more help from sky watchers
By Miles O'Brien
CNN Space Correspondent
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Columbia broke apart with seven astronauts onboard over east Texas, going 18 times faster than the speed of sound.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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ATLANTA (CNN) -- Despite an outpouring of still pictures, telescope observations and amateur and professional videotape of the space shuttle Columbia's final minutes, NASA says there is still a significant gap in the photographic record of its cataclysmic descent, which killed seven astronauts.
So far, no one has come forward with any images from eastern New Mexico or western Texas. That part of the United States is sparsely populated, but the National Aeronautic and Space Administration is hoping someone there saw and recorded something as the shuttle flew over on the morning of February 1.
Columbia glided across the western United States just before sunrise that morning. It flew just north of San Francisco around 5:50 a.m. PST (8:50 a.m. EST) and broke up over eastern Texas around 8 a.m. CST (9 a.m. EST). NASA said any imagery, especially video, of the shuttle during that time might aid the Columbia Accident Investigation Board in determining the cause of the disaster.
The agency is encouraging media and private citizens who have video or still images of Columbia's entry path to send it to investigators. Videotapes and photos will not be returned, officials said.
For more information call the Johnson Space Center Emergency Operations Center at 281-483-3388. Material can be mailed to NASA Johnson Space Center, Mail Code JA17, 2101 NASA Road 1, Houston TX 77058. E-mail digital images to columbiaimages@nasa.gov
