NASA CHECKING OUT LOCAL REPORTS OF COLUMBIA DEBRIS.Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer PALMDALE - NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. officials are checking reports of nearly 180 objects found in California that people think may have come from space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. Columbia, but so far nothing has been confirmed. So many reports are coming in that the space agency is asking for photos of objects before it sends a team to look at them, according to a spokeswoman for the Environmental Protection Agency Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), independent agency of the U.S. government, with headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1970 to reduce and control air and water pollution, noise pollution, and radiation and to ensure the safe handling and , which is helping the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), in its California search. ``Our information is that nothing found in California so far has come from the shuttle,'' said Laura Gentile, an EPA EPA eicosapentaenoic acid. EPA abbr. eicosapentaenoic acid EPA, n.pr See acid, eicosapentaenoic. EPA, n. spokeswoman in San Francisco. Some 12,000 pieces of shuttle debris have been found strewed over 500 miles from Ft. Worth, Texas, to the Louisiana border, NASA said. The debris is being tagged for identification and transported to the Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral) U.S. launch site for manned space missions. [U.S. Hist.: WB, So:562] See : Astronautics in Florida. NASA officials said no confirmed debris has been recovered west of the Ft. Worth area. Teams continue to investigate reports from 27 states and eight jurisdictions outside the United States. Of 179 total reports received from California, 105 have now been checked and determined not to be shuttle debris, NASA said. Of 162 reports in Arizona, eight have been determined not to be shuttle debris. Amateur astronomers from as far west as San Jose shot photographs and video of bright flashes and what looks like debris dropping off Columbia as it sped across the California sky before dawn Feb. 1. NASA obtained copies of the astronomers' images and has trajectory experts studying them to determine where debris that came off the shuttle early in its re-entry RE-ENTRY, estates. The resuming or retaking possession of land which the party lately had. 2. Ground rent deeds and leases frequently contain a clause authorizing the landlord to reenter on the non-payment of rent, or the breach of some covenant, when the might have fallen, NASA documents show. The earliest debris might bear the best evidence of what went wrong, NASA officials said. About the same time the flashes were seen over California, sensors on Columbia's left wing landing gear break line showed an unusual rise in temperature. Left-wing temperature readings ceased entirely five minutes later. |
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