Do You Remember Where You Were on February 1, 2003? I Do.

February 1, 2003 will, and should be, written down in history books for as long as history books are being made. That was the day of the STS-107 Columbia tragedy, when the space shuttle disintegrated as it was coming back from space.

Deep East Texans Remember that Day Well

The people of Deep East Texas remember that day well, because the debris from the crash landed all over our region. I was just an elementary school kid at the time, but I remember seeing the shuttle in the sky, not knowing what it was at the time, then seeing the reports on the news as they came in. The trajectory of the shuttle went directly over Deep East Texas, and that's where they lost communications with the crew - Rick Husband, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Laurel Clark and Ilan Ramon.

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Over the next few hours of February 1st, we - my family and I - would find pieces of the shuttle all over our property, and we would start to see all forms of local, state and federal teams show up to begin the process of recovering the pieces, hoping to figure out what went wrong. As a kid, I really couldn't grasp how big of a moment in history I was witnessing. I'd read about the stories of the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion from the 80s, but I had no idea what it would be like to experience something like that in person.

That Day Put Deep East Texas on the Map

It was a day of infamy, and Deep East Texas was right in the middle of it. Over the next few hours, days, and weeks, Deep East Texas became the center of attention. NASA, the FBI, all forms of law enforcement - both state and federal - converged on our region.

We found pieces of debris of all different sizes, all over the place. We were allowed to go on searches with agents, and with actual astronauts. Again, at that age, I didn't quite grasp the severity of what I was experiencing. I just thought it was cool to hang out with real astronauts.

Always Remember STS-107...

Eventually, things calmed down. The crews packed all the recovered items up, and they headed back to where they came from. There was even a museum built in Hemphill to remember the tragedy - The Patricia Huffman Smith NASA Museum 'Remembering Columbia'. But history was already written.

Nothing will make me forget February 1, 2003. That day changed my life. And I know that I'm not the only one. Remember STS-107 Columbia.