Ask The Columbia Shuttle Recovery Guy

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve been gone the past few weeks from any semblance of reality (including the SDMB) while part of the Columbia Shuttle Recovery efforts. For me it was an honor and privilege to be a part of a monumental effort (and it’s still going on) to bring the Columbia home. I was not part of any specific crew sent out daily to look for Shuttle parts and debris, but a few steps up the food chain. I was in a position to take part at all levels. I did learn quite a few things, saw lots, worked hard and met some wonderful folks from all over the country. And yes, I did go out with the searchers, and I did find Shuttle parts myself.

While the Shuttle recovery efforts are not big news, millions of dollars are being spent everyday to locate as many parts as possible from the East Texas scrub. (When I rotated out, our base camp was still spending about $400,000 a day just to operate. There are four major search base camps in east Texas.) The warmer weather is now going to make searching more difficult as the grasses and weeds fill out. Also, the warmer weather is bringing out more animals, mostly snakes, wild pigs and skunks to threaten the searchers.

If you have any questions about the Columbia Shuttle recovery efforts, I’ll do my best to answer them. As I recall individual stories I heard or had an active roll, I will post them here. Despite the tragedy of the loss of the Columbia Space Shuttle, there are a quite a few surprising stories out there.

Finally, thousands of unsung heroes right now are hiking through scrub, swamp, dense thickets and encountering all sorts of hazards to find whatever they can of Columbia. They deserve some sort of recognition. May I can do that for them here.

2

How much cooperation from the public has your team been getting?

Have you encountered people who won’t let you search their property?

Have you had problems with looters?

Have you encountered some total jerks? Or pranksters sending in phoney accounts?

3

Are people turning in hub caps from '72 Gremlins as debris?

Do you think that nothing much more will be found?

4

What did you find? What did it look like?

5

I saw (or heard) an article on the recovery in which they were talking about using GPS software to locate each piece discovered and collating all the information in a grid. How precise is the locating system and how on Earth do you manage to organize that much information in a coherent and accesible manner?

In any case, kudos on a job well done and worthwhile.

6

When will the next shuttle be launched?

I thought I heard them say that after Houston lost contact they ordered that the doors be locked. Why?

I am glad you are back and able to spend some time here again. Welcome back.:slight_smile:

7

*Originally posted by Bosda Di’Chi of Tricor *
How much cooperation from the public has your team been getting?

Cooperation from the public has been terrific. Something like 99 percent of Texas is private property so search efforts are on private land. We got land ownership information from the county tax rolls and phone calls are placed asking for “permission” to search on their land. Permission is almost always granted with no problem. If someone objects, a local visit is paid to the landowner by a Texas Forse Service representative (they are the lead agency) to explain the issue. If that fails, a number of visits are made, often with a local county official “requesting” permission. If all else fails (and it hasn’t so far) the local county judge can step in, first as a friendly good neighborly individual, and then if need be, they will enforce the law and compel the landowner. So far, a few visits by local officials is about as far as it’s gone.

Have you encountered people who won’t let you search their property?

Yes, see above for most of the answer. In one case, an owner runs an exotic game farm and he’s concerned the searchers will spook his animals. Fair enough. Talks were still in progress with him when I left. I would expect compliance would be forthcoming.

Have you had problems with looters?

Are you referring to pilfering from with base camp? We had reports of some crew members having personal item stolen but not much. Mostly trading pins and NASA gift photos taken. Security is pretty tight about such things.

If you mean theft of Shuttle parts, well, it’s possible but very unlikely. All searchers are given training that pilfering Shuttle parts while searching, even possession of cameras in search areas, will result in severe penalties. In the case of cameras, they will be confiscated no questions asked and you might get the camera back, sans film and or digital cards (in the case of digital cameras) when you are rotated home. If you’re caught taking Shuttle parts, either as a crew member or just an ordinary citizen finding something on your own, we’re told there is no leniency - you will be prosecuted, and if convicted, you will get 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. One local peace officer when I was there got caught with Shuttle parts he apparently had no intention of turning in. He is in jail awaiting trial last I heard.

**Have you encountered some total jerks? Or pranksters sending in phoney accounts? **

Yes, and yes. Every report is investigated. If anyone is deliberatle impeding the investigation, woe be that person. NASA doesn’t like joksters.

8

Yes, they are. :slight_smile:

NASA told us the astronaunts took many personal items with them on the flight. So even tennis shoes found in the middle of a field are checked out. In one case a CD was found so far out in the boonies it could not have come from anyone on the ground. That CD by the way was identical to the one identified on the crew manifest.

No telling how much will be found. NASA first thought only ten percent of the Shuttle would be found but by the time I left, they had close to 20 percent recovered. There was serious speculation up to 30 percent of the Shuttle might be recovered. Quite a bit of the Shuttle no longer exists because it was vaporized during reentry.

9

Along with my boss we found some Shuttle tile pieces (about as big as three-four postage stamps) and Shuttle fabric (about six inches long). It’s impossible to describe the latter because you had to have gone through the training to understand it.

Every day we got to see the parts as crews arrived back at camp. Our camp was the only one which had a NASA processing center in it so we saw many parts before they were bagged and shipped to the KSC (Kennedy Space Center). I sw many tiles completely intact, others burned and broken, along with all sorts of other parts. Some parts were about three by four feet in size, with complete tiles attached, carbon fabric, etc.

NASA obliged the searchers by having the parts retrieved that day on display for a few hours behind security screens (no pictures allowed). No it’s not ghoulish or disrespectful by any means. In fact, seeing the recovered parts brought us a sense of accomplishment. It also helped searchers in seeing parts they might find the next day.

10

Each 20-person crew sent out each day had a NASA rep and a EPA rep. The NASA rep was there to help identify what was found while the EPA rep was concerned with safety.

Anything found was handled as though it was a piece of fine, delicate crystal. “Significant” finds were photograped on the ground as they were found before being picked up by rubber-gloved hands and examined, often with additional photographs taken. Then a GPS reading was taken to precisely locate the part. How precise? NASA would not give out the information.

Initially, every piece smaller than your fist was not located via GPS. However, because the operation moved so well, they started using GPS with practically everything they found.

Searching is done via a grid search. A 20-person search line is spread out with everyone 20 feet apart (400 feet total). When the signal is given everyone is supposed to walk one step every three seconds, scanning left and right in front of you. If someone finds something, the line stops. The NASA/EPA reps following behind check out the find and the crew continues on.

A search is started along a known fixed point, often a fence line. The “free” end of the line has someone placing yellow flags every so often to mark the outer boundary. When the crew gets to the end of a search area to turn around (often another fence) they walk back using the yellow flags as the baseline. The baseline crew member picks up flags while the “free” end crew member on the other end places them. That way the entire crew can cover areas without overlap.

All data is entered onto data sheets and later transcribed at base camp into computers.

So how is it determined where to search in the first place? The Shuttle flightline is super-imposed over digital photographs, either taken by satellites or aircraft (We heard reports that a U-2 was also used but NASA never confirmed/denied they story.) One mile gridlines were added to the photographs and from that, search areas are plotted.

Ground searching is done two nautical miles on either side of the flightline. From two to five nautical miles out, helicopters are searching. Of course, helicopter searchers cannot locate small items on the ground. However, if ground crews find a number of pieces near the two-mile limit, a decision is made to ground seach a grid area past the two-mile limit. We had a number of cases where this occurred, with positive results.

NASA is very meticulous about the search efforts. All maps are highly detailed and because of this, considered accountable and sensitive. Hence, every map at our camp was signed out in the morning and signed in back in at night.

11

I hate to sound ghoulish myself, but how much of the crew themselves was recovered? Was there a concern about wild animals removing parts of the bodies? How were the body parts found? (Did members of the public make the discoveries, or was it mainly search teams? I can’t imagine my nighmares if I found body parts in my yard.)

12

The NASA folks told us the more parts we found, the greater the chance they would uncover the reasons behind the loss of the Shuttle. With that, the sooner the Shuttle would fly again. NASA has since stated Shuttle flight will resume this fall but they did not provide details.

From the news reports I read, the doors were locked to preserve data, something they apparently did not do with Challenger.

13

Meticulous photos were taken by the recovery team for documentation, but you have indicated that photographs made by the searchers would not be allowed, on severe penalty. Why is it so important to prohibit individual documentation?

14

Prior to the accident, were you connected with NASA or another federal agency? What federal, state and local agencies were operating in in the search efforts?

You said that you rotated off the project. Has someone else rotated on to take your place? How long is the recovery effort expected to ask?

15

Our search area found no crew body parts. Body parts were found further east where the larger and heavier Shuttle parts were found. I have no more information on this.

However, because the grid searching is so detailed, “other” bodies were found. I don’t know how many, nor the state of decomposition, but I do know a number of bodies unrelated to the Shuttle were found.

16

Official photographs of the search area and Shuttle parts are taken by NASA, the EPA and other “authorized” people. All other photos are prohibited. This was a NASA directive, and for me, goes to the heart of NASA’s public relations problems. NASA brass are paranoid about control and secrecy, yet it’s this very paranoia and secrecy that may hamper NASA’s job.

I had several opportunities to discuss this with a few NASA reps. NASA has its roots in the military and while military operations and protocols still remain, so does its regimentation and strict obedience to “orders,” even though NASA is a civilian agency.

It is my personal opinion the taking of photographs by other than authorized people is to avoid ghoulish photos from getting out in the media, or exploiting the tragedy itself. OTOH, we were quietly told this flight was not strictly a civilian research and education flight. There was considerable military hardware on board and the prohibition of photographs was probably aimed at that, too.

17

I don’t work for NASA. I work for another federal agency totally unrelated to NASA and the military.

NASA is the lead agency at the federal level because it’s their show. The lead state agency is the Texas Forest Service. However, neither has the capability to conduct a search operation. While FEMA is the “controlling” federal agency for the search operations, the Forest Service are the folks with all the search and command structure skills and expertise. The Forest Service is using the Incident Command Structure used for fire fighting to conduct the search and coordinates with the BLM and NPS in these efforts. The Fish & Wildlife Service and the FBI are also involved.

Once you get out of the command structure, crews are from interagency fire crews, state agencies from all over the US, etc.

I was rotated home because our command team finished its 30-day assignment. Another IC team is in place now.

No idea how long the recovery efforts will last. Weather and spring growth are hidden issues. It’s possible major search efforts may scale back by mid-April, but I also heard of conflicting reports before we left that the search could go to June. Another big if is the war with Iraq. If civil disorder and oppositition to the war grows across the country, it’s possible the search would close because the IC teams would be needed elsewhere.

18

Just wondering if there is a statute of limitations ,so to speak. What if some farmer is out plowing his field in 20 or so years and comes up with something, is he still required to turn it in? Obviously it would be of no investigative value, but it is, I suppose, still government property.

19

I have no information on this. I do know that NASA is quite serious when it comes to individuals keeping parts of the Shuttle.

20

Not that I’m particularly well-informed on this topic, but I have heard nothing about this before and Google turns up nothing either. It seems grotesque in the extreme. Are you talking modern-day murder victims or the dead of centuries-old wars or ancient Indian burials disturbed by debris or what? Can you give any more details?