Shuttle Pic--SIDE VIEW!

WFAA | 02/01/03 | GRRRRR

[HighWheeler]

Watch as the camera pulls back and focus is restored. There is no witness burst left in the contrail.

[ez]

Er..., no it's not, it's a lens flare.

Lens flare...[[[snicker]]]

[jaugust]

From what I can tell this view IS NOT out of focus as some are saying. The refocusing part of it doesn't come until AFTER the cameraman pulls the shot away from the shuttle. One can clearly discern the tapered shape of the wing and the starting, ever so slightly of a contrail. And it does not appear that the craft had started breaking up. In fact it probably wouldn't until the atmosphere became more dense as the shuttle descended. The left side of the wing has clearly become the leading edge in the picture.

[buccaneer81]

Looks like an OMS (orbital maneuvering system) engine. Located above and to either side of the main engines.

[GRRRRR]

Good point, I'll watch for it on the next replay...

[ez]

In fact, when you see this clip live you can see that at least one substantial piece had already separated from the main body of the shuttle.

If the shuttle somehow got sideways, the first pieces to detach would be the smallest that face the wind vector...the vertical stabilizer and rudder.

[bribriagain]

At the risk of sounding morbid, does anyone recognize the objects that are pealing off the craft? Wings?

[mn-bush-man]

Very correct. Thinking that a consumer handheld is going to pick up a "clear" image of the shuttle from 40 miles is like thinking you could zoom in to "In God We Trust" on a dime from 500 yards. Best Buy cameras are good, but not that good.

[snopercod]

I thought that "zoom" picture was just a hazy blur until Pokey Joe posted it.

That picture is worth a million words. Thanks Joe.

[Spiff]

I saw this video on Fox too. If you watch the entire video you see that this is an extreme zoom and that the shape you see is some soret of video artifact - someone mentioned 'iris reflection' - but whatever it is, when the camera zoomed back out this was obvious.

[Alberta's Child]

Do we know that this is a hand-held video camera and not a television-grade camera?

I'm still amazed at how much is clearly visible in those Challenger videos. From 48,000 feet away, and that was 17 years ago.

[jaugust]

The video was made by WFAA, and would not be using consumer grade video equipment.

[PokeyJoe]

Actually, the shuttle was in a 57 degree left bank in a decellerating turn. I think that the picture is consistent with a left wing failure, leading to departure from controlled flight, and resulted in an uncontrollable tumble and disintergration of the spacecraft.

Thanks to GRRRRRRR for taking the screenshots and trying to post them.

[BigBobber]

I agree. When you watch the video you are clearly seeing the shape of the shuttle. The camera then zooms back to a wider field of view, then you see the first indication of debris coming off.

By the way, the shuttle is supposed to fly sideways on descent. It does a number or rolls and "skips" sideways to the direction of travel in order to slow down.

[FreedomCalls]

I understand what you are saying here, but I can't help but think back to the Challenger disaster in 1986. That image was clear even at an altitude of 48,000 feet, and that was using equipment that is now 17 years old.

But you are talking about a video from someone holding a camcorder in his back yard. It is not NASA footage. This is the Baker-Nunn camera that NASA uses for tracking a launch.

It's quite a bit larger isn't it? And Columbia was at least 4 or 5 times farther away than Challenger was. It's not possible for it to be a "close-up."

[eddie willers]

The video was made by WFAA, and would not be using consumer grade video equipment.

When Fox first ran it, they had a graphic that cleary stated amateur video.
WFAA gets credit for gathering it.

It was a lens artifact as stated earlier.

[HighWheeler]

Those high altitude images of Challenger were taken by camera on board a T-38 at high altitude. They are impressive images, helped by the lower atmospheric pressure and more uniform ambient temperature.

[jaugust]

This would all be well and fine if the shuttle were travelling in a straight line when it is re-entering the atmosphere. But it does not. During re-entry it makes a series of steep s-turns to slow down. The wing will bank as much as 70 deg from horizontal with a nose up angle of 40 deg. These are long slow turns so that at anytime if control is lost it is quite possible for the shuttle to be going sideways. This is all speculation, of course.

[mikegi]

I saw this video on Fox too. If you watch the entire video you see that this is an extreme zoom and that the shape you see is some soret of video artifact - someone mentioned 'iris reflection' - but whatever it is, when the camera zoomed back out this was obvious.

Well then, it's the damnedest lens flare I've ever seen. Note that the shape of the "object" is what you'd expect to see when viewing the shuttle from underneath the rear AND it has the proper colors (white on top, black on the bottom). I put a short mpeg1 clip out on my website showing the entire zoom in and zoom out sequence.

[SouthernFreebird]

Guess I'll have to wait for the book....my eyes are bleeding from trying to see what ya'll are seeing.