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Glenn Mahone/Doc Mirelson
Headquarters, Washington         April 15, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1600)

Eileen Hawley
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/483-5111)

Kelly Humphries
NASA Command Center, Lufkin, Texas
(Phone: 936/699-1019)

Kim Pease
FEMA, Lufkin, Texas
(Phone: 936/699-1094)

Gay Ippolito
U.S. Forest Service, Lufkin, Texas
(Phone: 936/630-3128)

RELEASE: 03-139

EAST TEXAS COLUMBIA RECOVERY SEARCH NEARS COMPLETION

     As the Central Texas search for material from the Space 
Shuttle Columbia moved westward, the East Texas search began 
nearing completion. Air operations continued last week, and 
underwater searches were completed.

Search teams have completed 98 percent of the underwater 
searches in Lake Nacogdoches and Toledo Bend Reservoir. 
Ground teams have completed 78 percent of their primary 
search area, and airborne crews finished 80 percent of their 
assigned area. More than 70,000 items, weighing 78,000 
pounds, about 36 percent of the Shuttle by weight, have been 
delivered to Kennedy Space Center for use in the mishap 
investigation.

Officials are finalizing plans to create a Columbia Recovery 
Office (CRO) at Johnson Space Center, Houston. The CRO will 
assume responsibility for management of recovery and 
community liaison activities. The Disaster Field Office in 
Lufkin, Texas, the central planning and command center for 
the search, is expected to close in early May.

NASA and FEMA are working with partner agencies to close the 
four Incident Command Posts and the Mobilization and Staging 
Area. The U.S. and Texas Forest Services managed the 
Incident Command Posts, and they are expected to close the 
first of the camps in late April. Camps are located in 
Hemphill, Nacogdoches, Palestine and Corsicana, Texas.

The painstaking search of the main 2400 square mile search 
corridor was executed through the combined efforts of NASA, 
FEMA, EPA, U.S. and Texas Forest Services. Individuals from 
these organizations, aided by local authorities and 
landowners, have worked long hours under arduous conditions 
over difficult terrain to recover Shuttle debris.

NASA plans to maintain a relationship with the officials and 
people of the East Texas communities affected by the 
Columbia accident and debris search through community 
outreach and education programs.

For more information about NASA and the Space Shuttle 
Columbia investigation on the Internet, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov


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