Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES) and SKYWARN volunteers in Nacogdoches, Texas, have been assisting local emergency management officials and NASA to locate and catalog debris from the Columbia shuttle. The shuttle and its crew of seven, including three hams, were lost over Texas February 1.
ARES and SKYWARN volunteers from the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club have been surveying the area in and around Nacogdoches looking for shuttle debris. Public Information Officer Tim Lewallen, KD5ING, of the Nacogdoches Amateur Radio Club said amateurs have been accompanying officials from both NASA and the EPA to expedite the search and clean up of area schools. Texas officials have cancelled school in most of East Texas because of fears that shuttle debris could pose a health hazard.
”Usually we just get the coordinates, take a photo and move on to the next site,” Lewallen said, ”and someone from NASA will come along and pick up the piece later.”
He said the club had additional volunteers lined up for duty over the next few days, with amateurs coming from East Texas, Houston and Dallas. The ARES and SKYWARN volunteers have been working with emergency officials from Nacogdoches County, Texas Rangers, NASA, Texas Department of Public Safety, EPA and the National Guard.
The ARES and SKYWARN volunteers also were following up on NASA-provided telemetry and radar information that indicates where debris might be found, Lewallen said. The search area includes densely forested areas. NASA has requested that those encountering debris avoid any contact with it and cautioned that persons found with stolen accident debris will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The Columbia crew, headed by Commander Rick Husband, included Pilot Willie McCool and Mission Specialists Kalpana ”KC” Chawla, KD5ESI; David Brown, KC5ZTC; Laurel Clark, KC5ZSU, Michael Anderson, and Payload Specialist Ilan Ramon.