Re: [SHALLOW] Shuttle Reentry Observations

From: Ed Cannon (ecannon@mail.utexas.edu)
Date: Sat Feb 01 2003 - 18:28:15 EST

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    My thoughts are of course like those of others with 
    the terrible loss of the seven STS-107 crew members 
    and Space Shuttle Columbia, and the impact on the 
    families and all of the thousands of people who work 
    to make human spaceflight possible.  Such a tragedy.
    
    >all aspects of the re-entry have been described as 
    >perfect until seven minutes to complete disintegration
    
    This is just to note that at 12,500 mph (20,000 kph),
    the vehicle would travel 1,458.3 miles (3,888.9 km) in 
    seven minutes.  Of course it was traveling faster than
    that at the beginning of the seven-minute period.  So 
    this would seem to stretch backwards in the timeline 
    from Texas back to California at least.
    
    I have heard that fragments have been found as far east
    as somewhere near Baton Rouge, Louisiana -- presumably
    some of the densest and/or most heat-resistant pieces. 
    Perhaps as a sort of confirmation of that, some of the 
    weather radar images seem to show the trail extending 
    well into Louisiana.
    
    Ed Cannon - ecannon@mail.utexas.edu - Austin, Texas, USA
    
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