Texas Drought Exposes Wreckage From 2003 Shuttle Columbia Crash

I'm currently re-reading a book by a former Space Shuttle astronaut, so this story struck home more than it otherwise might have:

Wreckage from shuttle Columbia was uncovered in East Texas this week, the result of a prolonged drought lowering water levels in a lake.

The spherical tank, which is about four feet in diameter, is stuck in the mud alongside Lake Nacogdoches.

More than 40 tons of wreckage rained down on a long swath of East Texas and Louisiana as Columbia disintegrated during its atmospheric re-entry in February 2003, killing all seven astronauts.

Lisa Malone, a spokeswoman for NASA's Kennedy Space Center, said the tank was part of Columbia's power-producing fuel cell system.

The debris is no hazard to the public, she added.

NASA is working with local authorities to retrieve the tank. It will be brought back to KSC and stored with other Columbia wreckage in the agency's Vehicle Assembly Building.

No telling how much more stuff like this might show up in the coming years. The debris path was huge.