History Was Changed Forever When The Columbia Space Shuttle Crashed Over This Tiny East Texas Town
By Katie Lawrence|Published August 19, 2022
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Katie Lawrence
Author
Katie Lawrence is a Southeast Texas native who graduated 18th in her high school class with a GPA of 4.25. She attended college in the Houston area and began writing for OnlyInYourState in 2015.
Today, Katie writes, edits, and performs several other tasks for OnlyInYourState and has never been more passionate about a job before. Outside of work, you can likely find her curled up on with a hot cup of coffee, practicing yoga, baking, or exploring the beautiful Lone Star State (in particular, the vast and mystical West Texas desert).
There are several small towns in Texas where big things happened – some positive, and others unbelievably tragic. Hemphill, a small town of just over 1,300 nestled deep in the East Texas Piney Woods, would fall into the latter group after the fateful day of February 1, 2003. On that morning, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon atmospheric reentry, with many of the largest pieces of debris crashing down in and around the town.
On February 1, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia and its seven-member crew set off on mission STS-107 - a mission that would end in tragedy.
Just before 9 a.m. on that fateful day, the shuttle - which had completed successful missions in the past - disintegrated upon atmospheric reentry. The cause for this was a dislodged piece of insulative foam that damaged the thermal protection system tiles on the shuttle's left wing.
When the shuttle attempted to reenter the atmosphere, the damage made way for hot gases to seep into the heat shield, destroying the internal structure of the wings. As a result, the entire craft became unstable and began to come apart. In this photo captured during reentry, you can see debris already starting to shed from the left (bottom) wing.
All seven crew members were killed in the disaster, and debris rained down from eastern Texas to southern Louisiana. Many of the largest pieces of shrapnel - as well as the remains of several of the astronauts - were found in the area surrounding the small town of Hemphill.
Today, you can learn more about the Space Shuttle Columbia, its brave crew members, and the deadly accident at the Patricia Huffman Smith NASA "Remembering Columbia" Museum in Hemphill.
Museum visitors experience a guided tour that is formatted as a chronological journey through all 28 of Columbia's missions, including details about what went wrong on the day of the disaster. You will also enjoy a short video that showcases how the citizens of Hemphill contributed to the recovery effort, and the impact the incident has had on their lives. Additionally, the museum features many original artifacts, including items donated by family members of the STS-107 crew.
Near the museum, there is a monument honoring the fallen astronauts - and two people who died during the recovery process after their helicopter crashed.
