Nice to see our tax dollars at work.
Are you kidding? That's probably what he does in his off-time, if he's a true geek.
Nice to see our tax dollars at work.
There is little doubt that Don Pettit is a true geek. But don't believe me: http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/crew/exp6/spacechronicles_videos.htmlAre you kidding? That's probably what he does in his off-time, if he's a true geek.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]Saturdays aboard the station are usually free time for crewmembers, who often take the opportunity to do some housecleaning and then look out the window, read a book or write a letter.[/SIZE][/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]
Pettit spent some of his Saturday mornings conducting his own series of scientific experiments, and he videotaped some of them and downlinked them to the Mission Control Center in Houston, Texas.[/SIZE][/FONT]
My guess is plasma from air friction. MECO occurs at only 105 km typically, there is still plenty of air there.In this video, at 9:27 and 9:51, there are some effects that I'm wondering about. They were much more prominent on today's (STS-128) launch, but could someone please tell me what they are?
You're also seeing RCS thruster plumes. I think that big "ring of fire" around the tail of the vehicle is what happens when the SSME plumes get out from behind the windbreak of the fusalage and hit the slipstream. Some sort of dynamic effect between the exhaust and the atmosphere. I wish they would put some cameras on one of these launches in different locations and without a fisheye lens. Someday soo there won't be a space shuttle anymore and the coolness factor of these flights will be lost.
I think I'll wait a few more days before watching that video...