East Texans Reflect On Shuttle Columbia Tragedy On Its Anniversary

TYLER - Six years ago seven astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia died when the spacecraft broke-up on re-entry over Texas.

On Sunday, we spoke with East Texans and U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert about that fateful day and the status of memorials that are planned to be built around East Texas.

Some East Texans remember exactly where they were on the morning of February 1st, 2003.

Tyler resident Wayne Jones says,"I ran outside while I was at work, and actually saw it coming across the sky, i saw the vapor trail."

Tyler resident Norris Wimberlay says,"It was kind of like a sonic boom or something you know, it rattled the whole house, but i thought something was happening on my roof."

Since then, U.S. Representative Louie Gohmert and U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson created the Columbia Space Shuttle Memorials Act, which passed the house last year and was approved by the senate.

It's designed to have memorials built in Nacogdoches, Lufkin, Hemphill and San Augustine, the communities that received the largest amount of debris from the space shuttle explosion.

Representative Gohmert says, although he's having to be patient with the process of getting the memorials built, he's confident that it will happen.

Representative Gohmert says, "There's a study going on for four and to see what would be involved and whether it will be worthy of any federal money being expended, we'll get the study back and i expect we'll have the four memorials."