February 2003 - Utah-Astronomy - mailman.xmission.com

RE: [Utah-astronomy] Shuttle - our expierence
by Kim Hyatt 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

Jim: Your opinion and observations are just as valuable as those of Patrick and others who are more experienced. This event has international implications. I encourage you to share your experience with the media to help all of us understand what has happened. (Just my two cents...) -----Original Message----- From: Jim Gibson [mailto:xajax99@yahoo.com] Sent: Saturday, February 01, 2003 2:47 PM To: utah-astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Shuttle - our expierence Joe I know what you mean to the group. You are a great supporter; that is the least we could do for you. I would really like Patrick to handle this. He is expirenced. I am not. Jim Joe Bauman <bau(a)desnews.com> wrote: PS: Please don't let the trib or any other media use this -- Okay? Thanks, Joe Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau(a)desnews.com (801) 237-2169 _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy(a)mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy J _____ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail <http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com> Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up <http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com> now

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Shuttle - our expierence
by Joe Bauman 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

Thanks, Jim. I want to use this in my story. Where do you live? I saw it too but didn't get as great a view as you and your wife. -- Joe >Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii >X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by gonzo.desnews.com >id OAA02360 > > >I would like Patrick to respond first but he must be tied up right now. My >expierence was as follows. > > > >I met Patrick and others at exit 23 outside of St. George about 6:00 AM >along with my wife and 4 year old grandson. We went to a good observation >point and Patrick and I set up our cameras. There were about 10 others >inour group there. Patrick set his up with a telephoto (film) and he >suggested that I set mine up wide angle (digital). Patrick kept us >informed when to watch for the shuttle. The Shuttle approached where and >when he said it would to the West or North West about 7:56 (+ or ñ a >minute). My camera was set at f2.8 open for 8 seconds. I took my first >shot. The thing was beautiful, straight as an arrow, obviously high, and >moving fast, and way faster than any jet airline I had ever seen. The >Shuttle glowed with an indescribable orange glow. > > > >By the time the first shot ended I could tell the Shuttle was on top of me >so I shot straight up. I touched off the camera the looked up just in time >to see a noticeable increase in glow, not only in brightness but also in >width of the contrail. Later, Patrick referred to the event as a flare. >The shot ended and I had to turn the camera 180 degrees, pointed towards >the eastern horizon and shot off another picture. > > > >The whole time my wife was using my Galileo binoculars 15X70s. Sheila, my >wife, saw the bottom of the space shuttle with 15x Binos at approximately >300,000 feet and could see swirls of flames or balls of heat coming from >off the tiles. She would compare it to when someone sucks on a cigarette >the end glows and there are sparklies and it keeps getting brighter as >they suck. While she was watching, she said, ìI see flames.î We >understand that this was our first experience observing the re-entry; we >are inexperienced and were unalarmed at the site. Sheila wants to be >cautious because they werenít like licking flames, just a growing brighter >glow like a cigarette. We donít know if what we saw was normal. She could >not see the individual tiles but she could see a lot of dynamic activity >or movement on the bottom (donít blow this out of proportion, maybe >normal). She noticed this at about the 10 oíclock position to the 12 >oíclock position relative to our location. She didnít see anything fall or >any debris. She did NOT notice the flair per se that I photographed. > > > >Jim Gibson > > > >Do you Yahoo!? > <http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com>Yahoo! Mail >Plus - Powerful. Affordable. ><http://rd.yahoo.com/mail/mailsig/*http://mailplus.yahoo.com>Sign up now Joe Bauman science & military reporter Deseret News bau(a)desnews.com (801) 237-2169

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Oh my God.
by B. Bettilyon 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

I saw it pass over St. George this a.m. (see my earlier post). Having never seen a reentry before, I am not sure if I saw anything out of the ordinary or not. But what I did see were some "puffs" of contrail that I supposed at the time were caused as it encountered uneven air at such a high elevation and speed. I am just sick. Barney B.

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WOW!
by B. Bettilyon 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

Man, that was fantastic. What do you suppose the shuttle's elevation was as it passed overhead? Barney B St. George

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Is everybody asleep?
by Greg Taylor 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

Did you get my last message? This is no joke! Greg __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Is everybody asleep?
by UTAHDEB＠aol.com 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

I heard about the tragedy. It doesn't seem like it was terrorism. Thanks for your post. Debbie

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Re: [Utah-astronomy] Is everybody asleep?
by Josephine Grahn 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

I think we are all in shock, and having a hard time absorbing the news.. I did not have the news on, and really appreciate you and Dave posting it. What a tragedy for the families of the astronauts. Jo At 09:21 AM 2/1/2003 -0800, you wrote: >Did you get my last message? This is no joke! > >Greg >

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the saddest of news; Columbia
by David L Bennett 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

http://www.nasa.gov/ http://msnbc.com/news/857733.asp?0cv=CA00

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Holy Crap!: NASA Shows No Hope for Survivors as Contact Lost With Shuttle
by Greg Taylor 01 Feb '03

01 Feb '03

NASA Shows No Hope for Survivors as Contact Lost With Shuttle Feb. 1, 2003 NASA loses contact with shuttle, declares emergency CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) -- NASA declared an emergency and feared the worst after losing communication with space shuttle Columbia as the ship and its seven astronauts soared over Texas several minutes before its expected landing Saturday. As the minutes wore on, there appeared to be no hope for their survival. Television stations showed what appeared to be debris falling, and NASA warned Texas residents to beware of any falling objects. NASA also announced that search and rescue teams were being mobilized in the Dallas and Fort Worth areas. Inside Mission Control, flight controllers hovered in front of their computers, staring at the screens. The wives, husbands and children of the astronauts who had been waiting at the landing strip were gathered together by NASA and taken to secluded place. "A contingency for the space shuttle has been declared," Mission Control repeated over and over as no word or any data came from Columbia. In 42 years of U.S. human space flight, there had never been an accident during the descent to Earth or landing. On Jan. 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after liftoff. On Jan. 16, shortly after Columbia lifted off, a piece of insulating foam on its external fuel tank came off and was believed to have struck the left wing of the shuttle. Leroy Cain, the lead flight director in Mission Control, assured reporters Friday that engineers had concluded that any damage to the wing was considered minor and posed no safety hazard. Columbia had been aiming for a landing at 9:16 a.m. Saturday. It was at an altitude of 207,000 feet over north-central Texas at a 9 a.m., traveling at 12,500 mph when Mission Control lost contact and tracking data. Security had been tight for the 16-day scientific research mission because of the presence of Ilan Ramon, the first Israeli astronaut. Ramon, a colonel in Israel's air force and former fighter pilot, became the first man from his country to fly in space, and his presence resulted in an increase in security, not only for Columbia's launch, but also for its planned landing. Space agency officials feared his presence might make the shuttle more of a terrorist target. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said it had no immediate comment. Columbia's crew had completed 80-plus scientific research experiments during their time in orbit. (Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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RE: [Utah-astronomy] Shuttle reentry update, 31 JAN 2003, 01:45
by David Dunn 31 Jan '03

31 Jan '03

Patrick, There are now 7 of us from OAS coming south tonight. We are currently planning to stay the night somewhere between exits 42 and 33. We are bringing telescopes and plan to spend a few hours viewing before we sleep in our vehicles. We are then planning to meet you at around 6:30 at exit 16 to view the shuttle. Let us know if you have any change of plans. If others are interested in joining us for the star party, just let me know how to contact you and I will let you know where we end out. We are leaving at about 4:30 to travel south. Thanks. Dave

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