Monday 03 February 2003 Columbia Space Shuttle - the search begins  | All across Texas, in the US, people are searching for pieces of the Columbia Space Shuttle. The shuttle burned up while re-entering the earth's atmosphere on Saturday and any debris will be important in finding out why. This report from David Willis. |
 Listen to the story It's been likened to a crime scene with NASA scientists playing detective, gingerly searching for debris across a vast area. They are looking for key pieces of wreckage, some said to be as small as a pebble, others virtually the length of a car -- wreckage which could help solve the mystery of what happened to the space shuttle as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.
Faced with having to search such a large area and then document each piece of wreckage and guard it from souvenir hunters, the local sheriff has appealed for more manpower particularly, officers on horseback or in off-road vehicles, so inhospitable is some of the terrain. As a further sign of the challenge confronting officials, a team of divers has now been called in to search a reservoir on the Texas-Louisiana border where a large piece of shuttle debris was seen slamming into the water.
David Willis, BBC Listen to the words likened to if you liken one thing to another, you say it is similar. crime scene the place where a crime happened playing detective taking on the role of detectives gingerly very carefully debris pieces left after something is destroyed wreckage larger pieces of debris sheriff In the US, an elected law officer manpower people to do the job off-road vehicles vehicles specially made for driving over difficult ground, eg jeeps, landrovers. inhospitable terrain countryside where it is very difficult to go.  Read more about this story | |  | | | SEARCH IN LEARNING ENGLISH | | | |
|
|
