Those who heard the sound of Columbia plummeting to East Texas
will never forget it. Typically, with a big news event there is
a place to send journalists — the site of tornado damage, a
fire, the location of a shooting. With Columbia, the site was
nowhere and everywhere at the same time. The explosion occurred
high in the sky, and chunks of debris fell in a huge swath from
the Metroplex to the Louisiana border. Our angle to this
national tragedy was to tell the story of the debris recovery
effort and document reaction from our fellow East Texans. There
were many questions to be answered. Where had the debris fallen?
Was it safe to touch it? Should you remove it? Had chunks of the
space shuttle fallen through houses or hurt anyone on the
ground? We received a call from Dr. Scott Lieberman, a Tyler
cardiologist and photography enthusiast. He was taking photos of
a small dot in the sky — the Columbia in re-entry — when the dot
turned into a flash followed by streaking trail caused by
burning debris. Dr. Lieberm