CAPE CANAVERAL – Nasa confirmed yesterday that a large piece of debris from space shuttle Columbia, which was destroyed in 2003, has been found in a drought-stricken Texas lake.
The component of the ill-fated spaceship is one of its 18 gas tanks. Columbiadisintegrated as it attempted to fly through the atmosphere for a landing in Florida on February 1st, 2003.
Undetected damage in its heat shield caused it to break apart over east Texas and Louisiana, killing all seven crew members.
The Nacogdoches Police Department in Texas asked Nasa last week to help identify a 4ft-diameter (1.2m) spherical metal tank found in a newly exposed bed of Lake Nacogdoches.
When recovered, the tank will join about 84,000 other pieces of debris recovered after the accident. The wreckage is stored and made available to researchers.
Nasa ended its 30-year space shuttle programme last month. – (Reuters)