Our ThinkQuest team went to Hemphill, the site of the Columbia disaster on February 16, 2004.  Hemphill is 123 miles from our school with a population of 1100. We asked 7^th and 8^th grade students questions about the Colombia tragedy:  and here is what they told us.

       When the Colombia crashed on Saturday morning, most of the teenagers were sleeping.  They were awaken  by the noise of a loud explosion and the violent shaking of their homes, thinking that a war had started or that the Toledo Dam had burst.    Some of the students were very upset by the unknown noise they were hearing.  They soon heard a truck going around town telling everyone to be aware of the following debris. Soon the local news stations were reporting the disaster of the Columbia. Every one was just told not to touch anything that might be related to the shuttle for fear of radiation or other poisonous gases.  Most of the students did not get to see the accident with their own eyes but they got to see pictures and watch it on the news.  The town was littered with debris of different sizes. No one got physically hurt from the falling debris or by coming in contact with it.  Within hours the town was full of police officers, National Guard, TV and people will to help with the rescue.  They were all surprised that a ton of people could fit into their little town.  The military, TV people, National Guard, and Police officers had to sleep in the school gym, stayed in tents, or stayed with the local people.  The local people had to join together to help provide supplies for all the volunteers.   The students gave them blankets, movies, games, potatoes, toilet paper, pillows, soap, packaged foods and many other needed supplies. They also had food drives.  When the High School basketball team had a game, the military came to show their appreciation for what the town had done for them, by  cheering the local school to victory. To commemorate the first anniversary of the disaster, the local community had a memorial service at the star that sits in the middle of their town.   Every one that went to the service felt a deep sadness for the astronauts but a deeper sense of pride for how they had helped the nation in the recovery of Columbia.   

        A future memorial for the Columbia will be designed by NASA and the town of Hemphill and will be located at the site where the nose cone was found.