Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!ncrlnk!ncr-sd!hp-sdd!ucsdhub!ucsd!rutgers!mailrus!bcm!rice!titan!phil From: phil@titan.rice.edu (William LeFebvre) Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle Subject: Re: Discovery's launch: Am I imagining things? Message-ID: <1935@kalliope.rice.edu> Date: 30 Sep 88 15:38:10 GMT References: <1104@cfa237.cfa250.harvard.edu> <3811@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> Sender: usenet@rice.edu Reply-To: phil@Rice.edu (William LeFebvre) Organization: Rice University, Houston Lines: 25 In article <3811@phoenix.Princeton.EDU> elturner@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Edwin L Turner) writes: >>BUT.... At about 80 to 90 seconds into the flight, I and several >>friends independently thought we saw flame coming out of the right hand >>(no, right on the TV screen, so I guess that must mean its really the >>"left hand") SRB at the case-to-nozzle joint (where the cylindrical >>booster starts to flare toward the bottom). Did anyone else see this? It seems that many people saw it. >It may well be that we are all misinterpreting what we saw. Perhaps it was >some minor and/or entirely normal event. I have it from a very reliable source that the plume was not unusual or indicative of near disaster. It is apparently a normal occurence in the very high reaches of the atmosphere (near-vacuum). I was also worried when I saw it, but someone who has an intimate knowledge about these things has (indirectly) told me that it is not an uncommon phenomenon. But I don't know what causes it. I don't think it is an optical illusion. I think it has something to do with the lack of oxygen. William LeFebvre Department of Computer Science Rice University