Space Shuttle Columbia Memorial - Kerens, TX
N 32° 07.815 W 096° 13.629
14S E 761583 N 3558240
A memorial stands in Garden Park in Kerens, TX, paying tribute not only to the seven astronauts who lost their lives when the Columbia disintegrated over North Texas, but also to the local citizens who helped in the debris recovery effort.
Waymark Code: WMNFE8
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/05/2015
Views: 1
A small sign stands in front of a likeness of the shuttle. It says:
This likeness of the Space Shuttle Columbia is in memory of the seven astronauts who lost their lives that Saturday morning on February 1, 2003, and in honor of the hundreds of local citizens who worked so selflessly to help NASA and the other agencies in the recovery process.
Astronauts Rick D. Husband, William C. McCool, Michael P. Anderson, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, L. Blair Clark and Ilan Ramon were aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia that day, when sixteen minutes from home, the shuttle began coming apart here over northeast Texas.
As Kerens is forever in the shadow of the path the shuttle took that day, we dedicate this memorial, designed as a shadow of the shuttle in its path homeward.
This likeness was designed and built by the Kerens High School Agriculture Department, under the supervision of Brad Atkeisson and Ed Strange. --
There is plenty of parking in front of the memorial, and a ramp provides wheelchair access. Information about the shuttle disaster is ubiquitous, but related is an interesting blog about a couple's attempts to locate debris in Rice (northwest of here) and Kerens, where the local authorities were a little more helpful. (
visit link)