If one fell on Mong he probably wouldn't know...
An Australian astronomer in California could be a key eyewitness to solving
the mystery of today's space shuttle disaster.
Anthony Beasley, an Australian working at an observatory north of Los
Angeles, said he saw what could be tiles falling off the Columbia as it
flew over California and on its way to the scheduled landing in Florida.
Most video footage and eyewitness reports of the shuttle breaking up came
from witnesses in the central US state of Texas.
If Beasley is correct, it indicates the shuttle began to disintegrate on
the west coast above California.
Beasley telephoned US television network ABC to tell of his sighting.
"After the first few flashes I thought to myself that I knew the shuttle
lost tiles as it re-entered and quite possibly that was what was going on,"
Beasley, speaking live, told ABC news anchor Peter Jennings.
The Australian told how he saw "a couple of flashes" and "things clearly
trailing" the shuttle.
"I think that after the particularly bright event I started to wonder
whether or not things were happening how they should," Beasley said.
Two US space experts who were listening to Beasley's description said the
information was highly valuable.
They said tiles falling off the shuttle would be too small to be picked up
by NASA radar.
"This says that something was coming off the shuttle far earlier than what
happened over Texas would suggest," former space shuttle astronaut, Norm
Thagard, told ABC.
"It leads in the direction that tile loss or some type of structural loss
like that was likely to be a cause. But it still doesn't rule out other
possibilities."
Former NASA engineer, Jim Oberg, described Beasley's eyewitness report as
"an extraordinary account".
"If the left wing is losing tiles you then not only have over-heating in
that wing but you have extra drag and it's like flying along and having
your wing run into something," Oberg said.
"It could violently turn, twist the nose of the ship to the left and that
would be it. That would be the point where it would be torn apart."
http://smh.com.au/articles/2003/02/02/1044122251986.html
