Columbia spacecraft disaster, 20 years later

Twenty years ago, the space shuttle Columbia went on a scientific mission. On the way home, he flew over North Texas.

“Good morning, if you get out quickly, this is a live photo of Space Shuttle Columbia flying over North Texas,” said Brad Watson, former WFAA host.

On February 1, 2003, WFAA News went live, showing viewers a video of a space shuttle heading for a landing in Florida.

Former WFAA photojournalist John Pronk was commissioned to take this shot.

“And my first thought was, how will this end? How am I going to do it?” Pronk said.

At exactly 8 am, a shuttle came into view.

“We came out of the break and it came on and it ended right away and you know they move fast,” Pronk said.

Pronk said that almost immediately he and the engineer sensed that something was wrong.

“He looked at me and I looked at him and said, ‘Something’s wrong, something’s wrong,’ because all of a sudden you couldn’t focus on anything. They were just flows,” Pronk said.

The WFAA hosts started broadcasting that something actually went wrong.

“We are going to pause our regular broadcast right now because we have breaking news,” Watson said.

Pronk realized the significance of what had just happened and rushed back to the station.

“I saw him approaching the city center and it seemed like a normal entrance, and then everything started to fly apart,” Pronk said.

At the time, WFAA was the only live radio station in the country.

It was a 47-second live broadcast from Fair Park that confirmed to NASA that the orbiter broke apart on re-entry, killing seven passengers.

“They have lost contact. We can only hope it’s not the worst,” said Chris Geylus, former WFAA host.

But the unthinkable happened. A shuttle flying at 200,000 feet at 18 times the speed of sound exploded over Texas.

“I always wondered what it was because before it broke up, he did it, and I know NASA mentioned that they thought he did 360,” Pronk said.

Shortly thereafter, debris began to fall in Texas.

I was one of the first reporters to arrive on the scene as fragments continued to fall, including one in the middle of Nacogdoches town square.

Eyewitnesses of that time told us what they saw.

“I heard a noise and the windows started breaking and it was like an earthquake.”

The National Guard and dozens of law enforcement agencies were called in to search for the wreckage and guard larger items. Matt Orwig was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas and helped lead the recovery efforts.

“We needed them urgently. The FBI and all law enforcement needed all these pieces to try and put the puzzle together and find out exactly what happened,” Orvig said.

The pieces fell over an area of ​​over 2,000 square miles. The search lasted 90 days. The remains of all seven astronauts on board were found.

“Every time human remains were removed, they would stop everything and have a moment of silence, quick service, and then everyone would get back to work,” said Orvig.

Pieces ranging in size from a quarter to a minivan were found.

The WFAA was there when the most important part, the left wing, was found.

NASA later determined that a piece of insulating foam had torn off the outer tank of the Space Shuttle during takeoff and hit the heat shield tiles on the left wing. Upon re-entry, the wing caught fire and the shuttle exploded.

Today, there is a memorial dedicated to the dead in the center of Nacogdoches.

This day will forever remain in the hearts of those who helped in the recovery, those who suffered, and those who captured this sad part of American history.

More information on the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster will be in the WFAA news at 10:00 pm this week. Tune in for more.