Educator shares connection to Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy

HEMPHILL, Texas (KTRE) - February 1 is a day that many people in the country will never forget.

For East Texas, it marks a day that the community of Hemphill came together. For the Patricia Huffman Smith NASA Museum, it marks a day to honor the life and memory of Columbia’s STS-107 mission.

“The community that supported us in bringing our heroes home, it’s a very, very special place to be to mark this event,” said Brian Ewenson, Executive Director of Spaceport Sheboygan.

The museum invited Ewenson to speak throughout the day. Ewenson knew the Columbia crew, and worked closely at NASA during their purely scientific mission.

“It was actually this part of the vehicle here on the left side where the piece of foam came off the external fuel tank,” said Ewenson.

Ewenson said the foam punctured a 14-inch hole into the wing, where super-heated gasses caused the vehicle to break up. Along with an experiment of Ewinson’s that landed in Nacogdoches, debris and the bodies of the crew were found by search parties.

“We were able to recover over 85,000 parts from the vehicle in the local area whether it be Nacogdoches, Hemphill, Sabine,” said Ewenson.

There were seven crew members aboard Shuttle Colombia and two search volunteers who died in a helicopter crash. Ewenson said this day, and the museum, play an important role in educating the younger generation on the tragedy, and how Hemphill brought the heroes home.

“The coming together of the community and the nation right here in East Texas is something to be incredibly proud of,” said Ewenson.

The Patricia Huffman Smith NASA Museum features displays, artifacts, and scale models from Shuttle Colombia’s 28 missions.

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

SPECIAL CONTENT:

+ Remembering Columbia