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After watching the video umpteen times, but having never seen the shuttle in descent before, it's hard to tell if it's merely glowing when we first see it, and leaving a vapor trail, or if it's already combusted and trailing fire and smoke along with vapor.

It looks to me already burning when the video begins.

Then the burning becomes obvious and the shuttle begins to spin like a rifled bullet and then break apart 2-3 seconds later.

The fireball we see before breakup might be 300 yards across, and there were heroes in its center.

It's a terrible terrible sight, my eyes and heart are in pain.

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...(

JWFIV WROTE: "After watching the video umpteen times, but having never seen the shuttle in descent before, it's hard to tell if it's merely glowing when we first see it, and leaving a vapor trail, or if it's already combusted and trailing fire and smoke along with vapor."

JWFIV ADDED: "It looks to me already burning when the video begins."

Are you referring to a video that you shot or something you just saw/taped off a TV broadcast? If a TV broadcast, what station? Where is the station located?

JWFIV ADDED: "Then the burning becomes obvious and the shuttle begins to spin like a rifled bullet and then break apart 2-3 seconds later."

I could not get out to see it pass over head because I'm in the hospital with my sick daughter. I couldn't see much detail in the TV broadcast videos (limited to the area's local channels's own video coverage and one of the "Big 3" network channels). I couldn't/didn't see any spinning in the video I saw.

JWFIV ADDED: "The fireball we see before breakup might be 300 yards across, and there were heroes in its center."

Were you seeing/taping it through a telescope? Are you just imagining that the crew must have still been in their seats or are you saying you actually saw them in the middle of it all? If the latter, I assume you must have had a very high-powered telescope and it must have been very eerie to see. Actually, it was eerie no matter what you saw about it.

JWFIV ADDED: "It's a terrible terrible sight, my eyes and heart are in pain."

Just as I was with Challenger's fateful flight, I am stunned, wet-eyed and grief-stricken. I only hope that the heroes either made their peace with God before their journey or did so quickly if they were able to see their doom. The nation and world mourns for them and their families (all except Iraq, of course).

See http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=BJKKZDZVFUFBACRBAELCFEY?type=worldNews&storyID=2152926).