An Arduous Search for Answers

HEMPHILL, Texas —  A chunk of landing gear stripped of its tire, a computer switchboard and a small piece of fuselage were among the finds Tuesday as state and federal investigators continued the arduous task of searching the muddy and densely wooded forests of Sabine County for wreckage of the space shuttle Columbia.

By day’s end, it was becoming increasingly clear that significant parts of the forward section of the spacecraft had come to rest here among the oak, hickory, beech and loblolly pines.

Authorities and residents have made grim discoveries every day since the shuttle broke up Saturday on reentering the Earth’s lower atmosphere. Large chunks, like the craft’s nose cone, stuck in the mud. Mid-size finds, like a helmet. Small pieces, like quarter-inch flecks of white Styrofoam-like material. Human remains.

On Tuesday, it was more of the same, authorities said.

“Everywhere we turn, we’re finding debris,” said Sabine County Sheriff Tom Maddox.

At this point, only a small portion of a debris field that could extend as much as 1,000 square miles has been searched. Greg Cohrs, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said investigators are focusing most of their attention on a 10-mile swath that cuts through this county, near the Louisiana line. To date, he said, only several hundred acres have been thoroughly searched. More than 350 items have been located, he added.

On Tuesday, NASA officials extended the overall search area for wreckage, sending a team of investigators to California and Arizona to look into reports that pieces of the craft had been found there.

“The sources were credible enough,” said retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael Kostelnik, deputy associate administrator for the shuttle and the international space station.

Phoenix FBI spokeswoman Susan Herskovits said her office began getting calls Monday from people who believed parts of the shuttle had fallen on their property. “We collected the debris and are waiting for instructions from NASA,” she said.

In Sabine County, the search is being done by land, by air and by water. A boat equipped with sonar searched the floor of Toledo Bend Reservoir for wreckage as other searchers -- some on horseback -- used radar images of the debris path to aid in their hunt. A number of aircraft, including two military Apache helicopters, are searching from above.

Although more and more wreckage is being found, little of it has been moved. Authorities said the material needs to be inspected by investigators from the Environmental Protection Agency before it can be packed up and shipped about 100 miles east, to Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, La., where much of the wreckage is being temporarily stored.

Searchers said trudging through the thick and swampy woods is extremely difficult. “Everything out there is designed to trip you, hit you or stick you,” said Holly Morgan of the Forest Service.

Many of the searchers said sympathy for the astronauts’ families drove them to help out. The thought that human remains were also strewn about was almost too hard to comprehend, they said.

“I can’t imagine how the families feel,” said Morgan. “If that were my brother or sister, I don’t know what I would do.”

The discovery of such a large cluster of material from Columbia in and around Hemphill -- where a makeshift command post has been established -- has created a commotion the likes of which this tiny town has never seen before. The number of searchers and reporters outnumbers its 1,100 residents. Its remote location has caused some logistical problems for authorities. The only hotel closed three years ago. There are only half a dozen restaurants. Cell phones are all but useless in this rugged country.

Many county residents, Sheriff Maddox said, have brought home-cooked meals to help feed those involved in the operation.

“If there is one good aspect to this tragedy, it is that the community has really pulled together,” he added.

The debris field has also made Hemphill and the surrounding area a tourist attraction of sorts.

Stacy Boucher, 40, of Atlanta, Texas, drove her 8-year-old son, Jonathan, more than 100 miles to Hemphill just so he could witness the search in action.

“He’s been asking a lot of questions about what happened to the shuttle,” Boucher said. “He asked me if this was going to be in the history books some day. So finally, I decided that we would play hooky and I would bring him here.”

Along the way, she and her son saw yellow tape marking unattended wreckage, and they pulled over to look at it.

“We saw a computer part,” Jonathan said. “And we took pictures.”

Scores of people from all over the state drove to Hemphill to catch a glimpse of the shuttle’s nose cone before it is hauled away -- most likely by a helicopter.

It was found in a densely wooded area about half a mile from Highway 83, a mile south of town.

Forest Service officials escorted many of the curious to the scene of the nose cone, which they estimated weighs about 500 pounds.

Kathy Newman of Port Neches drove 100 miles with her family to record the moment for her 11-year-old grandson.

As a member of her entourage videotaped her in front of the nose cone, Newman talked to the camera: “It’s just devastating. It makes you want to get to your knees.”

Rhonda Anderson, a 42-year-old health-care consultant, came from Dallas to see the nose cone. “I’m amazed anyone found this here,” she said, a camera in one hand. “It’s so dense.”

Then, as she started to leave, she spotted a small piece of whitish material that appeared to be a piece of wreckage. She turned to a forest official.

“I think this is another one to mark off,” she said.

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Times staff writers Lianne Hart and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar contributed to this report.