Astronomer saw shuttle apparently in trouble over California

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

[Chesterbelloc]

>If I got the sequence right from the NASA conference,
>there weren't any sensor problems until the Shuttle was >over Texas.

The shuttle is moving very fast. When they had the first sensor problem at 5:53 the shuttle was just north of San Francisco. From there it moved south of Lake Tahoe and was in Texas just a few minutes later. The schedule that I have had it actually touching down on the runway in Florida at 6:15:50 PST.

[TLBSHOW]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/833885/posts?page=

18

[socal_parrot]

Judging from this live thread of FReepers watching the shuttle pass overhead, it took less than 10 minutes to get from California to Texas. The shuttle first noticed trouble at 8:53 Eastern time, the shuttle flew over San Francisco between 8:51 and 8:55 Eastern time.

[FITZ]

I wonder if there could have been a meteor hit the shuttle ---I saw a large meteor sometime during the night that streaked quite far down.

[socal_parrot]

That is a chilling thread.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...trailing fiery debris as it passed over Eastern California early Saturday, well before its destruction over Texas...

I have a problem with this sentence. When you're going 20 times the speed of sound, going between California and Texas takes no time at all.

[TLBSHOW]

That thread is history of this tragedy in live time as it happend. From my travelers on the net since I find no one else with this information. 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.

[jwfiv]

oops

I meant to say that it looks to me like the shuttle is glowing when the video begins, and then an intial explosion that changes the trail from vapor to smoke as it begins to burn, then the spin and real fire commences.

Hell, what do I know? I'm just shook up and trying to make sense of what I see.

That the astronauts' experience from beginning to their sudden end might only have been a few seconds gives me absolutely no comfort at all.

Bummin' here, big time...(

[Lady Jag]

It must take mere seconds for the shuttle to pass from CA to TX and its altitude should allow millions a view. At that altitude a good portion of the globe was in their view.

[ChemistCat]

That is so poignantly written.

[jlogajan]

The shuttle was traveling 200 miles a minute, 3.3 miles a second over Texas. It was traveling 280 miles a minute, 4.7 miles a second at initial de-orbit. First rrouble with sensors was first noticed at least 1400 miles before loss of com.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Thanks dog, just found this.......

[Joe Hadenuf]

This sounds like a pretty good witness.

I agree, sounds pretty credible.

[Joe Hadenuf]

The shuttle was traveling 200 miles a minute, 3.3 miles a second over Texas. It was traveling 280 miles a minute, 4.7 miles a second at initial de-orbit. First rrouble with sensors was first noticed at least 1400 miles before loss of com.

Wouldn't that put it over the coastal area of central California? Or further inland or east, like the Sierras?

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

They said during the NASA press conference that most likely what was seen over California is plasma, not shuttle parts.

And "they" also said that no one could possibly have seen missile contrials leading up to Flight 800...or no one could possibly have seen an explosion before the tail fell off of the flight that crashed in a New York neighborhood...

Just pointing out some previous "expert" poo pooing.

[patriot5186]

I used to work at Edwards AFB and have witnessed a number of shuttle landings and I've never seen it as a fireball!
Every time I've seen it it was a white dot in the sky that fell like a rock and glided to a perfect landing.
I wonder if they were having problems over CA and you witnessed it?

[upchuck]

I saw posted and heard on the radio the shuttle was going about 12,500mph when it got into trouble.

12,500 / 60 = 208 miles per minute
208 / 60 = 3.47 miles per second

It is about 1500 miles from LA to Dallas.

1500 / 3.47 = 432 seconds
432 / 60 = 7.2 minutes to go from LA to Dallas. Lots of assumptions here and I hope my math is correct.

[jwfiv]

It's that kind of day...(

[Joe Hadenuf]

When you're going 20 times the speed of sound, going between California and Texas takes no time at all.

That's exactly why I tend to believe this story...Or the observers credibility.....

[AlabamaRebel]

Just wondering. Where is ASSOCIATED PRESS based at,

and why is this report timed at: 12:03 a.m., February 1, 2003