May 20 2004
From The Space Library
NASA released pieces of the debris from Space Shuttle Columbia to a nongovernmental agency for study and testing. The release of the materials was the first implementation of NASA's new policy for the use of materials from a destroyed Space Shuttle. Henceforth, instead of burying Space Shuttle materials, as it had done after the Challenger accident, NASA would use materials from destroyed Space Shuttles for research. The company that received the parts ~ the Aerospace Corporation of El Segundo, California ~ was one of several organizations that had requested NASA's permission to study Columbia's debris. Under the terms of the release, the company would keep the Shuttle parts for one year, using them to analyze the effect of atmospheric reentry on materials. (NASA, “First Columbia Debris Loaned for Research,” news release 04-165, 20 May 2004; James R. Asker, “In Orbit,” Aviation Week and Space Technology 160, no. 22 (31 May 2004): 19.
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