posted on February 19, 2003 10:01:26 AM new
HEMPHILL - Diving crews have found the front landing gear of the space shuttle Columbia largely intact in the woods near Toledo Bend Reservoir, officials said today.
Navy Capt. Chris Murray told The Associated Press that the crews were led to the gear Tuesday by residents who waved dive boats ashore as they were searching for shuttle material in the East Texas lake near Hemphill.
NASA spokesman Dave Drachlis confirmed that NASA did identify the object as Columbia's "nose gear."
Divers and officials with the Navy, Environmental Protection Agency, and the Galveston and Houston police departments continued searching today the lake for shuttle materials.
Diving is expected to continue through the next 45 days, NASA spokeswoman Kathy Barnstorff said today.
Water operations have been frustrated by bad weather and the natural murkiness of the lake, which allows for only 20 inches visibility. Hovering mainly near the lake's shores, divers have found only one shuttle part, a cylindrical hunk of metal whose function NASA officials have not yet identified.
Meanwhile, wildland fire crews from across the country trained today as they prepared to continue the ground search based in Sabine County. Other ground searches are based in Nacogdoches, where searchers have been looking for several days, and Palestine, which is still setting up camp.
U.S. Forest Service officials say they're racing against nature, trying to find and recover as much material as they can before spring foliage arrives in mid- to late March.
Sabine County Sheriff Tommy Maddox said in an interview today morning with East Texas radio station KTHP that Hemphill residents should expect "a lot more aerial searches" in the area.
"Don't be alarmed if you should see these helicopters flying over low and hovering," Maddox told listeners.
