Whats going to happen to the debris after the investigation ends?
On 4/14/03, NASA officials announced that debris from Columbia will be made available to researchers to help design and build better and safer spacecraft and hypersonic aircraft. Established as a loaner program, Columbia debris will be made available in much the same way Moon rocks are currently loaned to researchers. The amount of debris to be made available for research purposes has not been determined, nor has NASA decided whether to permit museums to display pieces of debris. However, according to Mike Leinbach, chairman of NASA’s Columbia reconstruction team, the agency is open to the possibility. Leinbach also said NASA had no set plans with regards to final storage for the bulk of Columbia debris at the time of this writing. By contrast, debris from the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 is permanently sealed in a silo at Kennedy Space Center and there are no plans to release it for study.
