Scientific, academic and governmental organizations interested are asked to submit their requests. NASA believes permitting access to the debris will allow companies to design and build safer, more reliable components for future spacecraft, as well as developing technologies that improve safety and further knowledge about the effects of reentry.
“NASA thanks the FBI for its work bringing our crew home, as well as all the men and women who helped NASA during this very difficult time,” Lee added.With sights set on the future of space flight, NASA provides Columbia debris material for research to the aerospace and educational industry. Lee said the FBI helped rule out sabotage and terrorism early on as possible causes of the disaster, helped locate crew members, and helped catalog recovered debris. Lee, a NASA engineer and emergency manager at the Johnson Space Center. “The FBI was a critical part of the Columbia recovery effort,” explained Ronald B.
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The Firearms-Toolmarks Unit at the FBI Laboratory later helped find serial numbers on damaged tiles, which helped NASA determine the cause of the crash-a thermal breach in the left wing that led to structural failure. FBI New York’s Underwater Search and Evidence Response Team helped locate and recover debris under water.
To this day, FBI offices still receive calls about potential shuttle debris being found.įBI employees each spent several weeks or more assisting with the search, often working 12-hour shifts. Then sometimes you’d find a piece the size of a Volkswagen Beetle,” Hillman said. “Sometimes you would find a piece that was two inches by two inches. Our whole team was very well prepared and very well organized,” Chambers said. “This is where we work best-during a national emergency. Parts of the shuttle were found in Lake Nacogdoches and the Toledo Bend Reservoir.įortunately, the FBI has developed an expertise in responding to disasters of all types. Searchers combed through pine forests, hundreds of thousands of acres of underbrush, and boggy areas. The remains of all seven astronauts were recovered, despite the obstacles of terrain and the scope of the search. “They quickly learned that we had the utmost respect and dedication to getting their friends and colleagues back.” “We ended up forging a very close relationship with these astronauts,” Hillman said. We turned everything over to NASA,” Reinecke said.Ī NASA astronaut accompanied each FBI team that responded to reports of victim remains. But in this case, we didn’t keep any evidence. “After we determined we had found a crew member, we documented the scene like we would a crime scene-we mapped it and took pictures. Searchers spread out across the countryside and sent coordinates to FBI teams if they came across suspected remains. They were part of a massive team of professionals and volunteers-more than 25,000 people from 270 organizations helped search 2.3 million acres. Chambers led an Evidence Response Team, while Hillman led a Hazardous Evidence Response Team.Ībout 500 FBI employees from Texas and Louisiana eventually worked the recovery effort.
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The Federal Emergency Management Agency coordinated the overall disaster response, and tasked the FBI with finding, identifying, and recovering the crew.Īgents and professional staff also helped secure classified equipment and safely contain and recover hazardous materials. More importantly, the crew needed to be found. “It was a time when people were concerned about terrorism, and it couldn’t be ruled out right away,” said Michael Hillman, another FBI Dallas special agent.īefore NASA could provide any answers, it needed to recover as much of the shuttle as possible. But the nation couldn’t help but think about the 9/11 terror attacks less than 18 months earlier. No one knew immediately why Columbia fell.
As the noise faded, debris started raining down into eastern Texas and western Louisiana.
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