Front of Space Shuttle Columbia's Nose Cone found: US Confirms

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, February 04, 2003

Front of Space Shuttle Columbia's Nose Cone found: US Confirms

United States searchers have found the front of space shuttle Columbia's nose cone, a US Environmental Protection Agency official said Monday.

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United States searchers have found the front of space shuttle Columbia's nose cone, a US Environmental Protection Agency official said Monday.

The official said the front of the nose cone, found about three miles (about five kilometers) west of Hemphill, Texas, near the Louisiana border, was "reasonably intact."

The nose cone had burrowed deep into the ground and searchers would return Tuesday to dig it out, officials at the site said.

Spacecraft Columbia broke up over central Texas and fell to Earth shortly before its scheduled landing at the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on Saturday. All seven astronauts aboard were killed.

So far about 12,000 pieces of debris have been collected. The recovery effort is difficult as the debris scattered in an area stretching 380 miles (642 kilometers) west-to-east from Texas to Louisiana, and 230 miles (388 kilometers) north-to-south from Sulphur Springs, Texas, to metropolitan Houston.

Texas Governor Rick Perry said Columbia's wreckage had been reported in 33 counties of the state.

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