(Left) Stephen Brown shows the coordinates for a piece of shuttle debris.
(Center) Shannon Crum inputs mapping data. (Right) Stuart Foote discusses
the team's findings with an investigator.
UTSA researchers return from Shuttle Columbia investigation
(Feb. 21, 2003)--Three University of Texas at San Antonio researchers returned
to their lives in academia after a week of assisting NASA in the investigation
of the Shuttle Columbia explosion that claimed the lives of seven astronauts
Feb. 1.
Stephen Brown, assistant professor of earth and environmental science;
Shannon Crum, assistant professor of political science and geography;
and Stuart Foote, GIS/GPS manager, produced maps that guided the search
of 54 square miles of land near Hemphill in East Texas. The UTSA group worked
19-hour days with a 4,000-member team, searching a strip of land 27 miles
long and two miles wide.
"It was exhausting," said Crum. "We literally started at six in the morning and were out until one o'clock in the morning the next day."
Using advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) equipment, the team identified and mapped more than 2,300 pieces of shuttle debris. Included in the recovered items were pieces of the landing gear, tires, communication equipment and an astronaut's flight suit.
Recovered debris: tire and connecting ring
"I found a control panel and was told by NASA that it was probably one of the last instruments the astronauts looked at. It was the panel that would be telling them the temperatures of the landing gear and tires," said Brown.
"We were honored to be selected to assist in the investigation and provide that support," said Foote.
UTSA was recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation because of the expertise in the GPS/GIS program regarding the advanced technology enabling mapping and navigating with real-time accuracy.
"Being part of the recovery made you feel like you were doing something to help make sure this doesn't happen again," said Brown.
Brown added that he and his colleagues are prepared to assist NASA again
in the investigation if they are called to do so.
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2003