[r9etb]

if you were out looking up at the sky with a camcorder, and you were filming the space shuttle hurtling sideways through the air in a doomed re-entry, would you zoom out so that you could no longer see the object in detail?

1. They didn't know it was doomed.

2. They zoomed out because they saw a second trail and wanted to get it in the picture.

3. From what I read, WFAA was setting up for a different shoot, and the camera guy took the opportunity to shoot the Shuttle, too. Sounds like he used his pro-quality camera.

[Alberta's Child]

If any aircraft is flying through the air sideways, then it is doomed. I think anyone with an IQ over 30 would know this.

You also have to remember that the shuttle lost contact with the ground BEFORE it was over Texas. There were some folks here on FR who reported from California that it was already starting to break up when it passed over them.