Former astronaut 'WOWED' by image snapped by California astronomer

[Seeker of Truth]

Can anyone say SDI COVER-UP?

Source (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=30889)


CATASTROPHE IN THE SKY
NASA probes 'electric zap' mystery photo
Former astronaut wowed by image snapped by California astronomer

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Posted: February 5, 2003
5:22 a.m. Eastern


By Joe Kovacs
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com


"Wow."

That was astronaut Tammy Jernigan's stunned reaction last night when she viewed a photo of what appears to be space shuttle Columbia getting zapped by a purplish electrical bolt shortly before it disintegrated Saturday morning.


Former astronaut Tammy Jernigan

"It certainly appears very anomalous," Jernigan told the San Francisco Chronicle. "We sure will be very interested in taking a very hard look at this."

The photo was one of five captured by an amateur astronomer in San Francisco who routinely snaps pictures of shuttles when they pass over the Bay area.

The pictures were taken just seven minutes before Columbia's fatal demise.

The Chronicle reports that top investigators of the disaster are now analyzing the startling photograph to try to solve the mystery.

The photographer continues to request his name be withheld, adding he would not release the image publicly until NASA has a chance to study it.

"[The photos] clearly record an electrical discharge like a lightning bolt flashing past, and I was snapping the pictures almost exactly ... when the Columbia may have begun breaking up during re-entry," the photographer originally told the paper Saturday night.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Wow! I got a great pic! Nevermind that 7 people were blown to bits!
Is she crazy or am I overeacting?

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Here we go. Get out the tin-foil beenies! "Shuttle Shot Down by Evil US Government in SDI Test!" This should provide the OKC/Waco crowd hours of delight.

[Suzie]

Or some other "government" that thinks we "got what we deserved" http://smileys.thehomespace.com/Smiles_files/shifty.gif

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tinhat.gif

[2nd_Amendment]

You never miss a chance to pipe up about what you know nothing of. BTW, there's a whole boatload of examples of bogus searches and cash confiscation, and sources for lots more, waiting for you on that other thread where you "kicked my ass". Funny how it's just sitting there now...

[Timberwolf]

Or, possibly, it was a discharge FROM the SS due to the friction and/or ionization of re-entry...compounded by the damage incurred during lift-off...static happens. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tinhat.gif

[Greymon]

I have no idea what it is or if it really happened but if it is true it could be anything.....including one of those freaks of nature or one of the possibilities mentioned above. We may never know.

[Lopeover]

Aliens did it!

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Could it be anything due to temperature differences between take off and landing? It was very cold when the shuttle took off, and dry, but more warm and humid coming in.

Could a static electrical build up suddenly have been released as the shuttle re-entered the atmosphere? What kind of grounding can the shuttle have?

[Warlady]

could it have been lightening? Static friction?

[SunnyBrook]

...or maybe...ChiCom Lasers?

[Warlady]

I doubt they have a laser that could reach that distance. But if they get to the moon who knows.

[SunnyBrook]

[ QUOTE ]
But if they get to the moon who knows.

[/ QUOTE ]

My sentiments exactly, WL. You can bet that they have a military purpose behind their desire to reach the moon. We had better re-establish a lunar presence before they beat us to it.

What do you think of the possibility that they somehow messed with our shuttle via satellite?

[2nd_Amendment]

Militarily all China needs is low earth orbit. From there they can simply drop rocks and pretty well ruin our day.

As for the blue arc, plasma? What temperature does it take to generate a plasma arc and could it not simply be a completely unknown effect of a fatal temperature spike of a vehicle on re-entry? It would make sense, both as a result of the minor damage and as a cause for the catastrphic failure of other systems.

[Greymon]

[ QUOTE ]
Lopeover said:
Aliens did it!

[/ QUOTE ]

They wouldn't happen to have been from the planet Liberal would they?

[CaliGirl]

If it started to break up over CA, then I bet Gray out doofus had something to do with it. http://freeconservatives.com/smilies/eat_arrow.gif He did it because he was taking the 'news' of his budget away from him!

[SunnyBrook]

CaliGirl:

LOL. You guys get busy out there, and you'll be able to rid yourself of that pesky bugger.

[CaliGirl]

[ QUOTE ]
SunnyBrook said:
CaliGirl:

LOL. You guys get busy out there, and you'll be able to rid yourself of that pesky bugger.

[/ QUOTE ]

I hope we can get rid of the pesky bugger as you put it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon16.gif

[Keith J]

If the artifact in the image is indeed static electricity outside of normal intensity, it very well could prove there was significant damage to the tile. Static electricity is VERY common in most aircraft...in something hyper-Mach like the shuttle, its on the scale of lightning. Resistive coatings limit the buildup, dissipating it as heat.

Remove this coating by a collision with some fuel tank foam and the resistance increases to the point of allowing a large charge accumulation. If the tiles were disintegrating upon reentry from the poor flow (increased drag), the area could actually grow.

[dajoga]

[ QUOTE ]
Aliens did it!

[/ QUOTE ]

LOL, BUT if they did, that means they don't want us messing around in their territory. (Is there a movie coming??)

All this UFO baloney over the years always made me chuckle. B/c if they WERE aliens, they definitely were supperior to us. So why then don't they just take over planet earth? Was it a waste of their time? Maybe where they came from was a utopia like we dream of and they knew messing with us would just contaminate their environment.

That's why I've always said UFO was a misnomer: they're really UFI's--(Unidentified Figments of Imagination)

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon133.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon133.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon133.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon133.gif

[pja]

Ummm...There was an article in the NY Times on Feb 13th...which I haven't been able to find...that is supposed to talk about a solar storm that the shuttle went through just before re-entry. Anyone have that or know about that article??

Pat (aka pja)