Chronicle photographs look back on coverage of the Columbia shuttle disaster
Longtime Houston Chronicle photojournalists Karen Warren and Brett Coomer have covered just about everything in their careers, from multiple World Series to numerous hurricanes and everything in between, but this week they are looking back on that fateful day 20 years ago when they received the news that the space shuttle Columbia had disintegrated over Texas.
Warren was sent to Nacogdoches as soon as the news broke on February 1, 2003, where she remained for the rest of the week covering what became the epicenter of a search for debris as authorities they were looking for answers to what happened to cause such a catastrophic failure. Warren watched as landowners found possible radioactive waste in their fields and NASA astronauts like Mark Kelly arrived to search for pieces of the shuttle.
KAREN WARREN/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
STS-107 (2/2/03) Mac Powell stands next to what he believes to be the suspected left wing of the downed space shuttle Columbia on his Nacogdoches County property Sunday evening. He found the wreckage Sunday morning, with several heat tiles damaged (HE DOESN’T WANT ANYONE TO FOLLOW THE EXACT LOCATION!!!!) (Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle) HOUCHRON CAPTION (03/02/2003): Mac Powell looks over what he believes is part of a shuttle wing he found on his Nacogdoches County property. HOUSTON CHRONICLE SPECIAL REPORT: COLUMBIA’S LAST MISSION.
KAREN WARREN/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Left: Astronauts Mark Kelly, left, holding a piece of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and Greg Johnson walk along a rural road near Nacogdoches Airport in search of debris. Right: Mac Powell stands next to what he believes to be the suspected damaged left wing of the downed space shuttle Columbia on his Nacogdoches County property Sunday evening. He found the wreckage Sunday morning, with several heat-damaged tiles.
The city also turned into a growing memorial to the seven lives lost in the disaster as people gathered to pay their respects to the crew members. Watch the video below to hear Warren recount a handful of memories from those early days.
Houston Chronicle photographer Karen Warren recalls covering the Columbia shuttle disaster Video: Karen Warren, staff photographer
For Coomer, who is now a staff photographer for the Houston Chronicle but at the time was a Houston-based freelancer who often worked for the Houston Chronicle but also for the Getty and Associated Press wire services, he got the news via pager and addressed Johnson directly. Space Center NASA’s Houston home was a familiar location for Coomer, who had been covering space shuttle missions for years at the time and had a badge that allowed him to enter the property.
HOUSTON, TX – FEBRUARY 1: Kathryn O’Neill and her son Zachary of Laguna Hills, California kneel next to the sign at the entrance to NASA’s Johnson Space Center where a memorial has been installed improvised for the crew of the space shuttle Columbia, February. 1, 2003 in Houston, Texas. Columbia broke apart on re-entry into Texas skies after a 16-day science mission and all seven astronauts on board are feared dead.
Brett Coomer/Getty ImagesCoomer found a growing memorial to the lives lost as members of the public and people with closer ties to the space program gathered at the Mission Control home in south Houston to pay their respects. Coomer had photographed Columbia crew member Ilan Ramon a few years before training with another Israeli astronaut at the Johnson Space Center on a model of the space shuttle. Listen below as Coomer recounts his memories of the days following the shuttle breakup in Texas.
Houston Chronicle photographer Brett Coomer recalls covering the Columbia shuttle disaster Video: Brett Coomer, staff photographer
For more on the 20th anniversary of the Columbia shuttle disaster, read Chronicle reporter Andrea Leinfelder’s look at the The legacy of the Columbia disaster at NASA.
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(2/3/03) Fred Schwiem, a landowner in Douglass, Texas, a heat panel from the space shuttle Columbia, which landed on his property, in Douglass, Texas. Among the interesting finds on Schwiem’s ​​property were two mice. Douglass is located 15 miles west of Nacogdoches on Highway 21.
Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle
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