02/03/2003: Columbia across night sky
 

http://msdelta.net/~dave/images/columbia-nightsky.jpg

There are lots of images of the Columbia disaster and recovery, and you're gonna see 'em everywhere, but I don't think this one's getting as much circulation.

This is Columbia as it streaks across the night sky over California. The time is a few minutes before 6AM PDT - just a few minutes before it came apart.

But instead of focusing on the bad, I thought that I'd like to focus on the good. It's a beautiful picture at the end of an amazing mission.

My thanks to those who take these risks that push humanity forward.

Thanks for posting that, Dave. It truly is a beautiful picture. It looks like the picture was taken just a few miles north of Big Pine, CA at the Radio Telescopes there. I grew up near there.

It is a wonderful picture. I wish I weren't such a cynic, but if you look along the trail toward the right side of the picture (to the left of the furthest right dish), there's a bulge in the time-exposed trail. The shuttle does show some things like this in a normal reentry when the attitude thrusters fire, and this is probably what this is (the bulge is concentrated in one place and does not continue on along the line of travel, at least, not at the same scale), but I wonder if it is possible that this is a piece coming off?

Most of you guys know a lot more about technical aspects of photography than I do. Opinions?

I'm no rocket scientist, but I think that's a combination of "overlap" and what we in the business call a "star".

Bloody awesome photograph, though.