February 4, it appeared that at least some portion of each Columbia crew member’s remains had been recovered. Dr. Philip Stepaniak and his medical team in the temporary morgue at Barksdale received, studied, and prepared the remains of Columbia’s astronauts that had been gathered so far. The medical team and the recovery leaders in Lufkin debated about the appropriate time to transfer the crew’s remains to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology at Dover Air Force Base. On one hand, consideration for the grieving family members argued in favor of waiting to move all seven transfer cases at one
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