Atypical was possibly a poor choice of words. The reentry track was certainly "normal" for the orbit it was in. What I was suggesting is that it is not very common for the shuttle to pass over Utah during reentry. I believe the last time was six years ago. I was simply curious to see if perhaps this "not very common" deorbit path possibly involved any steeper banking during deorbit (to line up with KSC) than other paths. However, from Brent's and Chuck's comments it sounds like this is not the case.

-----Original Message----- From: Norm [mailto:norm@mtngreen.net] Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 11:09 AM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Today's NASA Briefing

What was atypical about this re-entry track? It appeared to me to be normal for the orbit the shuttle was in.

Norm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dale Hooper" <Dale.Hooper@sdl.usu.edu> To: <utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 12, 2003 9:32 AM Subject: RE: [Utah-astronomy] Today's NASA Briefing

There is something that I have been really curious about that I haven't seen mentioned (please forgive me if I somehow just missed it). We know that the shuttle was following an atypical reentry track - because we were able to observe it over southern Utah. I'm wondering if this reentry profile presents times when there are greater stresses on the orbiter than a typical reentry profile? I.e., more severe banking that might overly stress an already somewhat damaged wing; which wouldn't have caused a failure in a more typical reentry profile.

Certainly, this wouldn't be a root cause - but might be a contributing factor. Obviously, I've entered into second tier speculation. <g>

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