Crew 6 makes re-entry over the VAB as it heads for a splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. All images are explicitly owned by LabPadre Media and may not be used without written consent.
Saw the space shuttle once entering the atmosphere over Texas on it's way to Florida, one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. The ion trail lingered for a minute or so. A few minutes later we watched it land on TV. Very cool.
Went outside last night at just the perfect time and caught this. All I could think was Columbia and how that turned out. Luckily it all went wonderfully!
The amount of energy dissipated over such a short distance is mind boggling! A full blown ionization trail to nothing in less than a minute! The deceleration must be an experiance not soon forgotten.
yes, they experience plasma black out just off the coast of Tampa bay which is peak heating ... so maybe thousands of miles per hour passing over Tampa bay, when we saw it fly over it was like watching someone toss a rock over you, one minute you see it go by, the next it's already to far away for you to even see it.
I could be wrong but it passed over tampa and splashed down 10 minutes later in Jacksonville that's at least 200 miles covered in just 10 minutes which comes out to around 1,300 mph but it could have been going way faster than that.
Isn't it strange to see stars behind a brightly lit foreground using a webcam, yet in space with no giant bright buildings to swamp image sensors .. not a single star can be seen?
