Astronomer saw shuttle apparently in trouble over California

San Diego Union Tribune ^ | 02/01/03 | John Antczak

[socal_parrot]

By John Antczak
ASSOCIATED PRESS

12:03 a.m., February 1, 2003

LOS ANGELES – Space shuttle Columbia appeared to begin trailing fiery debris as it passed over Eastern California early Saturday, well before its destruction over Texas, according to a California Institute of Technology astronomer who witnessed its fiery transit.

Anthony Beasley observed the shuttle's re-entry from outside his home in Bishop, Calif., near Caltech's Owens Valley Radio Observatory, where he is project manager of the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy.

"As it tracked from west to east over the Owens Valley it was leaving a bright trail. As it actually moved over the valley there were a couple of flashes. ... Then we could see there were things clearly trailing the orbiter subsequent to that," Beasley said.

Beasley said he, his wife, Anne, and mother-in-law, Anne Finley, had gone outside in the early morning darkness to watch the re-entry from the small town 225 miles north of Los Angeles. He said the sky was clear and dark, and the shuttle was immediately visible when it cleared the Sierra Nevada peaks to the west of Bishop.

He said he had never witnessed a shuttle re-entry before and is not an authority on shuttles, but he immediately thought Columbia was having problems.

"In particular, there was one very clear event where there was a piece that backed off the orbiter. ... It was giving off its own light, then it slowly fell from visibility," he said.

Beasley said he thought the shuttle might be losing some of the heat-resistant tiles that protect it during the fiery re-entry. He said he did not learn of the shuttle's destruction until he went to the observatory and compared notes with two news photographers who had arranged to photograph the re-entry through a telescope.

Beasley said they compared notes and all agreed they had seen what he termed "the bright event, the third event."

"The analogy, I think, is it looked like the shuttle dropped a flare," he said.

He described the scene again: "Pretty soon after we started to see it track there were brief flashes of light. It would sort of flash a little bit and there was an indication of material trailing the orbiter. They would sort of disappear from view. ... That happened two or three times. One of these was very bright. It was a very clear thing. It separated itself from where the orbiter is. It sort of fell behind in the trail and it was burning itself. It was hot itself ... and then the orbiter continued heading toward Texas."

[Wacka]

I saw the shuttle re-enter over SF in 1995 at night. It looked like a red roman candle that took about 1-2 minutes to pass from horizon to horizon.
The bright light and smoke trail are normal.
I heard the sonic booms about 5 minutes later. They were over Louisiana at that time. It takes the sonic boom about 5 minutes to travel to the ground.
It looks like the tape they are showing caught the breakup. The beginning of it looked fine to me.

[TLBSHOW]

interesting links!

SPACE SHUTTLE THERMAL PROTECTION

Each time the space shuttle orbiter makes its fiery re-entry through the Earth’s atmosphere, a unique structural material called Reinforced Carbon Carbon (RCC) has one of the most demanding tasks of the mission — protecting the vehicle’s nose section, wing leading edges and chin panel against metal-melting temperatures approaching 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

RCC, developed by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control - Dallas, is basically an all-carbon material processed for increased strength and treated to resist oxidation during the orbiter’s encounter with the atmosphere at speeds near 17,000 miles an hour each time it returns from space.

At temperatures devastating to metals, RCC paradoxically increases in strength. It provides excellent shock resistance, permitting rapid transition from 250 degrees below zero (-156 C) in the cold of space to nearly 3,000 degrees above (1,648 C) during re-entry. The material also demonstrates outstanding structural fatigue life, necessary in meeting the design goal of 100 orbiter missions.

http://www.missilesandfirecontrol.com/our_products/productdevelopment/SHUTTLE/product-shuttle.html

With its mission complete, the orbiter has to re-enter the atmosphere. The RCS engines fire in order to turn the shuttle through a half-circle, so it is flying backwards in space. Then the OMS engines fire again - this time their thrust acts to slow down the spacecraft, and it starts to drop back out of orbit, towards Earth. As it begins its descent, the OMS engines fire one more time, turning the orbiter once again, so it is flying forwards, with its nose and underside raised up so that their heat-absorbing tiles can soak up all heat produced by re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Once past this crucial stage, the Shuttle acts like a normal plane, and glides in to land, touching down at 340 km per hour (twice the speed of a Jumbo Jet landing). Because of this extra speed, the orbiter needs an extra long runway, and even then, aerobraking parachutes have to be deployed to help slow it down.

http://www.sciencenet.org.uk/database/Physics/Shuttle/p00865c.html

RE-ENTRY
http://satobs.org/re-entry.html

[TLBSHOW]

I asked your opinion about what happened. I said mine is just an opinion. I could be wrong! But.....then again I could be right! So again how did it happen that it ended up all over Texas?

[Chesterbelloc]

If you go here:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/groundtracs/sts-107/ksc255.DOL.htlm

you can see the what exact latitude/longitude of the shuttle was supposed to be at specific times. It also gives height, velocity, and when different events were scheduled to happen.

This page:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/groundtracs/dol_pad_faq.html

explains what the events are.

I used this site last night to figure out when I needed to be out this morning. It is a cool space site. You can also track the ISS in real time there. I been having problems getting to the pages today though. Probably being overwhelmed with hits.

[AlabamaRebel]

That makes sense. I was beginning to think someone was sycic (sp)

[afraidfortherepublic]

...but there was no sonic boom across Texas (at least in my part) the last time I watched a shuttle approach. If there was one, it wasn't even loud enough to upset the dogs and they hear everything.

Well, I thought it was a strange remark because I had never heard of a sonic boom related to the landing of the shuttle before. I used to live in Texas and in California and no one ever mentioned that we would be able to hear the space shuttle descend. Of course I'm not a real space fan because the whole idea makes me nervous, but I have never heard anyone give such a warning before.

Believe me, I am not implying anything negative about Fox & Friends. I enjoy their sassy banter. But it was almost like hearing a premonition. I'm glad that Wondervixen heard it too because it's almost like I dreamed it. (I was still under the covers!)

[TLBSHOW]

AP would like you to think so!

[Howlin]

So again how did it happen that it ended up all over Texas?

It broke up over Texas, that's how.

And you said California. And you're wrong. Again.

[Howlin]

Thanks for your eye-witness account of what it normally looked like.

This shuttle was fine until it was over Texas.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I wonder if he was videotaping it?

Good question, as we don't know if it's been reported, but we just heard he was, and that NASA is currently reviewing the tape, as he did not release what he had to the media!!....

[Joe Hadenuf]

Has anyone else heard this??

[TLBSHOW]

And you said California. And you're wrong. Again.

I don't think I said it broke up over California! I said about cal that

Add this account from Cal and the problem looks to me to of started way before Texas. Like it was on fire as it came in.

,,,,,,,


I think it was on fire for the most of the way after re-entry and the left wing did smash into it causing the shuttle to break up.





No matter what, something was wrong over California and a freeper saw it on fire over Las Vegas. What ever happend, if it just keep burning on re entry but made it to Teaxs where it just exploded or something else. I don't know. But at 9:03 eastern thread time here something was already wrong.

[Howlin]

No matter what, something was wrong over California and a freeper saw it on fire over Las Vegas.

That is what you said and none of it is true.

And I don't understand the rest of your posts....it's gibberish, as usual.

[TLBSHOW]

No matter what, something was wrong over California and a freeper saw it on fire over Las Vegas.

yeah its true!

[Howlin]

BTW, you said this, too:

I think it was on fire for the most of the way after re-entry and the left wing did smash into it causing the shuttle to break up.

It wasn't. Anybody who looks at the film can SEE it looked normal until it was over Dallas.

Once again, you will be proven wrong.

[Fred Mertz]

You said: It wasn't. Anybody who looks at the film can SEE it looked normal until it was over Dallas.

The article: Space shuttle Columbia appeared to begin trailing fiery debris as it passed over Eastern California early Saturday, well before its destruction over Texas, according to a California Institute of Technology astronomer who witnessed its fiery transit.

Are you calling this Cal Tech astronomer a nobody?

[Howlin]

Did you read the part where he said that he'd never seen the shuttle go over before? Lots of people say it looks "like it's on fire" when they are looking at the plama.

We'll see what the data said, but so far, the only people who believe something was wrong with that shuttle before it got to Texas appear to be on this thread.

BTW, CNN is now reporting that tonight the people at NASA say it might have been something at the BACK of the shuttle that might have gone wrong -- I cannot remember the name -- but the part he pointed to look like flaps (if that is what you would call them.)

[Howlin]

Er......plasma.

[TLBSHOW]

Here, enjoy the new page at nasa


http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/

[cmsgop]

Are you calling this Cal Tech astronomer a nobody?

Im sure he is a great guy,but he might not know dick about vehicles on re-entry.....