Message posted by A on March 04, 2003 at 9:59:15 PST:
NASA Workers Solemnly Reconstruct Shuttle Washington Post 4 Mar 03 In their white lab coats and protective goggles, the scores of workers in Instead, they are charged with a more solemn task. They are tagging and assembling debris from Columbia, which carried their It's an emotional task for the 300 engineers and technicians who work in two They are now responsible for putting together its broken pieces so that Many of the Kennedy Space Center employees went to Texas to help in the "We're closely tied to each of these vehicles emotionally," said shuttle The workers go about their tasks efficiently. But there are constant An enclosed corner of the hangar containing objects from the shuttle's crew The surrounding wall has been transformed into a mini-shrine decorated with The shuttle reconstruction gives employees something to do so they don't sit "I wouldn't know what I would do without them," NASA Administrator Sean Boxes of debris have been arriving on long flatbed and cargo trucks every Once inside, the scraps of metal, tiles and piles of rubber are inspected by Some workers crouch over the larger objects. Others move the scraps and The canvas for the employees' work is a grid mapped out in blue and yellow The workers are most interested in parts from the shuttle's lower section, From afar, the scene looks like a busy ant colony. In one corner, workers More than a quarter of the floor is covered with tire rubber, delicate Only about 10 percent of the shuttle's weight, 270,000 pounds, has been The widest area of the grid is reserved for the fuselage structure. The Members of the accident investigation board say it's only a matter of time "The data and twisted metal are speaking to us," board member Scott Hubbard
author: Mike Schneider / Associated Press
the 50,000-square-foot hangar look like scientists about to perform a lab
experiment or engineers inspecting a factory assembly line.
space program colleagues until the shuttle disintegrated 38 miles over Texas
on Feb. 1, killing all seven astronauts.
shifts. Many of them know the space shuttle intimately. They did
maintenance work on Columbia and assembled its various parts.
investigators can figure out what went wrong. The debris will then be
placed in its final resting place - a former missile silo near where the
remains of space shuttle Challenger are located.
search for the debris.
technician Peter Nader, who helped in the search in Hatfield, Texas. "It
has been traumatic. A lot of us are very upset by it and we're hoping and
praying the families of the astronauts will continue to support the
program."
reminders of the tragedy.
compartment is treated like sacred ground. A sign on the door reads: "The
Flight Crew area contains sensitive material." A mission patch and an
American flag hang over the door.
sympathy cards from school children. "Our prayers are with the families and
friends of the space shuttle Columbia," reads one card.
idle while the space shuttle fleet is grounded indefinitely.
O'Keefe said of the Kennedy workers this week.
couple of days for the past two weeks. They are unloaded and their contents
of sheared metal, hollowed tubes and rubber are unwrapped. If they're
dirty, the pieces are washed outside before being brought into the hangar.
workers wearing gloves and protective eyewear to prevent any contact from
hazardous materials.
large metallic globes on wooden pallets using dollies. Small objects,
including wing tiles, are placed in gray plastic boxes with transparent
lids.
tape on the 188-foot-by-166-foot floor. The names of sections of the
shuttle are taped to orange traffic cones to help workers figure out where
to place pieces.
kept for identification on so-called "bread racks," likes those at a bakery.
type data about the debris into computers lining a wall. Nearby, others
place bar codes on the debris for tracking. More workers examine the pieces
on long, folding tables.
thermal tiles and large, silver fuel cell globes.
recovered, or about 8,110 pieces of debris. Of that, 5,297 pieces have been
identified.
heaviest pieces brought to the hangar, so far, have been the shuttle's main
engine turbopumps weighing about 600 pounds each.
before the broken pieces start coming together like a jigsaw puzzle to
provide answers.
said recently. "And we're just developing the ears to hear."
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