On Monday, December 17, 2001, at 09:26 AM, Bill_T_Bard@raytheon.com wrote: > "Will we be able to see a "contrail" as it comes in over us?" > > The only time you would see a contrail would be if they fire the > thrusters. > Previously, when it's passed by I haven't seen any kind of contrail. > Coming > in at mid day will be hard to see. The best time is early or late in the > day when the sky is somewhat darker but the shuttle still in light. I > think > it crosses the coast at about 100,000 feet, Mach 10, I think about 10 > minutes before landing. I've seen a twilight pass, and the plasma trail isn't visible but the shuttle is quite bright - brighter than a satellite. The *best* time is when the shuttle comes in at night - the plasma trail is amazing. But in Florida, they may have slowed enough so that none of these phenomena are visible, i.e. too slow for a plasma trail, too low to be illuminated like a satellite, to high to see like an airplane. Steve ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Dec 17 2001 - 11:54:19 EST