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The first pieces of space shuttle Columbia should return to the Kennedy Space Centre by the middle of next week, completing a journey that began on Jan. 16 when the orbiter launched from Florida, NASA said on Saturday.
"The first pieces are almost ready to ship, and Kennedy is preparing a facility for them," said NASA spokesman Dave Drachlis.
The oldest US space shuttle was entering Earth's atmosphere following a 16-day mission on Feb. 1 when it broke apart nearly 63 km above Texas, killing all seven astronauts aboard and spreading debris from Ft. Worth to Louisiana.
Suspected debris has been reported as far west as California, but NASA has said none of those reports has been confirmed.
The cause of the shuttle's destruction remains a mystery.
While engineers in Florida will examine the wreckage for clues, experts at the Johnson Space Center in Houston are studying computer data and amateur and military photographs and video of Columbia's crumbling path.
The only problem observed by flight controllers at Mission Control in Houston in the minutes before the crash involved modest increases in temperatures inside the left wing and the loss of data from some sensors there.
NASA has said none of the clues collected so far suggests the cause of the catastrophe.
The space agency said on Saturday that investigators in the field still had not determined whether a piece of Columbia's wing, about 66 or 69 cm long, discovered near Forth Worth, is part of the right wing or the suspect left wing.
Amnesty over
In Nacogdoches County, Texas, where the debris field was centered, Sheriff Thomas Kerss told a press conference that the number of calls reporting debris has decreased since an amnesty period for turning over material ended on Friday.
He said he has nine cases of suspected looting of shuttle debris in his county that he would turn over to federal authorities.
About 80% of the sites in Nacogdoches, which had the most reported sightings of shuttle wreckage, have been cleared, Kerss said.
He added that he expects all reported sites will be cleared in the county over the weekend.
Search and recovery crews are being stepped up with additional personnel in Sabine County, on the Texas border with Louisiana.
Several key components of the shuttle were found there including parts of the fuselage, the nose cone and computer circuitry.
About 300 National Guard troops in Nacogdoches have been moved to Sabine County, Kerss said.
Kerss praised the workers battling cold and rain to retrieve debris.
"The drive and human spirit being displayed throughout all of this has been tremendous," Kerss said.
In the Texas town of Lufkin, where a federal command post has been established, several hundred workers paused for a moment of reflection at a memorial service held to coincide with the time the shuttle disintegrated over the Texas skies a week earlier.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe offered words of gratitude for those involved in the search and recovery efforts.
"The good people of Lufkin could not have possibly planned for 1,500 folks to suddenly descend from 20 different federal agencies and state and local organizations," said O'Keefe.
"It is a fervent wish we could have made all your acquaintances under different circumstances."
© Reuters
