Re: STS-75 TSS Tether Break

jvarney@mail2.quiknet.com
Mon, 26 Feb 1996 18:21:27 -0800

>>Jim Varney (jvarney@mail2.quiknet.com) wrote :
>>
>>>> I can't say I share your certainty.  That tether is quite thin and I
>>doubt
>>>> it will be visible to ground-based observers.

>At the first edition of the European Satellite Observer's Meeting
>in Hasselt, Belgium, in 1994, a compilation tape was shown of
>video observations of the SEDS-2 tether, which was associated with
>a Delta launch. The footage was quite remarkable, and judging from
>those video images the tether should not be a very difficult object, it
>was naked eye if I remember correctly.
>
>I watched the SEDS-2 tether shortly before the STS-59 shuttle launch in
>1994.  Rather impressive looking, like a child's drawing of a comet with a
>fairly wide tail.  I wish I could have taken a photo ...

>Philip Chien, Earth News - space writer and consultant  PCHIEN@IDS.NET
 (and others quoted within Philip Chien's post)



One large heaping of crow with my dinner tonight ;)

I'm glad I'm wrong -- haven't checked the viewing opportunities; hope at
least some of us get a chance to see it...

 -- Jim

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jim Varney      |  121^ 23' 54" W,  38^ 27' 28" N   |           Sacramento, CA
Civil Engineer  |            Elev. 31 ft.           |jvarney@mail2.quiknet.com
------------------------------------------------------------------------------