[AZ-Observing] A last view of Columbia

After checking on spaceflightnow.com that it was indeed going to land 
soon, my wife JoAnne and I went outside about 6:50 AM MST Saturday to try 
to see the reentry of Columbia.  I didn't quite know what to expect, 
having never seen a shuttle (or any manned spacecraft) reentry before.  I 
set up a camera on a tripod and hoped to leisurely take some photos of it. 
 But around 6:54 AM, a 0th magnitude "star" rose very quickly in the 
northwest.  Clearly this was the shuttle, and it was moving faster than 
any airplane or satellite I've ever seen.  I attempted a couple of photos, 
but as this was still in twilight I just took several second time 
exposures, letting the shuttle trail through the field (now developed, I 
know these were overexposed, only faintly on one showing a faint (single) 
trail).  The shuttle passed behind some thin clouds, climbing quickly to 
about 30 degrees up in the north.  Through most of its path it left about 
a 30 degree long white plasma tail behind it.  In 7x50 binoculars it was 
visible as bright fuzzy fireball, about magnitude -1 or -2 at its peak 
brightness.  It was lost in some low clouds in the northeast after only 
about 2 minutes, sometime around 6:56 or 6:57 AM.  (No multiple targets or 
trails were seen.)

I was certainly amazed by the view, particularly given the speed with 
which the shuttle had crossed the entire sky (which shouldn't have been a 
surprise given its altitude relative to most satellites and a speed of 
around 15,000 MPH).  I was happy to have been in the right place (for 
once) to have seen such a sight.  JoAnne was impressed as well, and also 
noted that much of the time the shuttle had been visible she had heard a 
low background noise (which I wasn't sure I had heard one way or the 
other) - apparently some sort of local noise being generated by the 
electromagnetic impulse of the shuttle's plasma trail.  We did not hear 
any sonic boom. or at least didn't wait outside long enough to hear one.

Upon going inside I noted on spaceflightnow.com the report of the shuttle 
passing over Arizona and into New Mexico.  But then things turned to 
confusion at 7:03 AM as a report came in of multiple trails being seen in 
Texas, and then at 7:05 AM that NASA had lost communications.  I could 
only wonder how either of those things could be or whether they were 
normal for a shuttle re-entry.  But as time went on, communication was not 
restored, the 7:16 AM time for landing passed, and it became clear that 
here was another American tragedy.  Our happiness at seeing its reentry 
turned to sadness.  Columbia had been destroyed about 3 minutes after we 
saw it, flying high and fast over northern Arizona.

- Brent Archinal
  Flagstaff


HAIL, Columbia! happy land!
Hail, ye heroes! heaven-born band!
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
Who fought and bled in Freedom's cause,
And when the storm of war was gone,
Enjoyed the peace your valor won.
Let independence be our boast,
Ever mindful what it cost;
Ever grateful for the prize,
Let its altar reach the skies.

- From "Hail, Columbia!", by Joseph Hopkinson (1770-1842)

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