APOD: Shuttle Reentry Streak from Orbit (2011 Aug 01)

[Chris Peterson]

I think they got the caption wrong on this one... I think this is a launch image. The shuttle has just finished its ballistic climb (hence the smoke trail) and is still on main engine burn.

I don't see how this couple possibly be a re-entry image. This is not a long exposure as we see no star streaks or blur.

Great show, but not of re-entry!

The caption is not wrong- we are seeing the shuttle reentering, still high in the atmosphere in a very shallow descent. The exposure is one second, which is why there is only a small amount of motion blur of the stars. The bright spot at the end of the trail is the hot shuttle, the trail is glowing plasma. There is no smoke trail.

[bystander]

It's reentry >> http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?t=24652#p154060

[alter-ego]

What are the background lights on Earth, city lights or lightning strikes?

If they're city lights, any idea of which cities they are?

They are city lights. The re-entry location was definitely over Central America, and though the clouds make it more difficult, I believe I have identified the major cities. Note, the shuttle trajectory is heading towards Cancun (just at or over the horizon) where the re-entry was captured on video.

Gosh, I just discovered this was available on Google as a live feed(!?!). Google just keeps surprising me.
http://this-space-available.blogspot.co ... nding.html

Click to view full size image

[yellowbag]

i'm sorry, please enlighten me. why is it considered to be unprecedented to land like an airplane on the runway?

[alter-ego]

i'm sorry, please enlighten me. why is it considered to be unprecedented to land like an airplane on the runway?

... Within the next hour, however, the sophisticated space machine dropped its landing gear and did what used to be unprecedented -- landed like an airplane on a runway.

It's not, anymore. I think that was your point

[Beyond]

Before the shuttle, the capsules would splash-down in the ocean for recovery. The shuttle set a new precedent -- landing on wheels.

[BPCooper]

Assuming that is California in the picture,

This is not California, or the US. For ascending node re-entries from the ISS, they come up from the South Pacific, across Central America, the Yucatan/gulf and into Florida.

[Flynjay]

This is a launch photo not re-entry. This photo would be a couple of seconds after SRB seperation. That is why the plume seems to come directly veritcle and then start to match the curvature. Notice the little hook at the end of the plume. That is the SRB's starting to tumble.

The bright spot directly to the left of the plume is the orbiter on the three main engines.

Caption fail.

[Chris Peterson]

This is a launch photo not re-entry. Caption fail.

It is not a launch photo. Your assessment is failing, not the caption.

(Unless you are a conspiracy nut, you can simply look at the image's EXIF header to determine when it was made. And there are other images taken in the same sequence that clearly show this is a reentry.)

[BMAONE23]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

I had seen a similar scene back on Feb 1, 2003 directly over my house as I was leaving for work a little before 6am that fateful saturday. It wasn't until I arrived at work that I heard the news; it was the Columbia breaking up on reentry.