Kupon platform re-entry aftermath
Craig Cholar (3432P@VM1.CC.NPS.NAVY.MIL)
Sun, 16 Nov 97 23:40:35 PST
There's an article on the CNN website about the reentry associated
with the Kupon Proton launch at:
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9711/15/light.show.ap/index.html
I used the Usenet search engine at www.dejanews.com to look for
online articles about the event. It was both fascinating and ultimately
sad to read some of the very bizarre theories expounded on some of the
alt.* lists. It's hard to tell if some of the posters are serious, or
are just having some fun.
To see for yourself, go to www.dejanews.com and click on SEARCH FILTER
to start with Nov 14 97. After the search filter is setup, do a keyword
search like:
(washington or vancouver) and (meteor or ufo)
It's tempting to send e-mail to the ones who loudly claim it cannot be a
re-entry, and explain how the event was predicted in advance; we have
the archives to prove it. Then again, I'm not sure I want -some- of those
people to know my e-mail address. :-) There was, thankfully, one voice in
the wilderness who cross-posted to some of the alt.* ufo fringe groups
how he used Satspy 2.0 and the NORAD 30-day decaying TLE file to confirm
that the object was indeed a re-entry. Hallelujah!
Something I did find intriguing were the multiple claims that NORAD said
the object crashed into the Pacific. That does seem to contradict many
eyewitnesses who saw the debris trail go inland. I suppose it's possible
the lighter debris continued on, with the heavier pieces falling into the
Pacific. Is there an official NORAD announcement on the net? I poked
around http://www.spacecom.af.mil/norad and didn't find one.
I did find some reentry photos at http://www.ufobc.org/lights2.htm but the
quality could be better. Does anyone else know of other photos/videos on
the web?
Craig Cholar