MarkusS
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We all know the paintings and concept arts how it looks like when a shuttle reentered:
and we know the footage from the ground:
(Endeavour reentering at her mission STS 134)
as well as from space:
(Atlantis reentering seen from ISS)
but only one picture exists that shows the reentering from "close up". It was taken from a SR-71 Black Bird and shows Space Shuttle Discovery on her way down to earth:
Discovery at this picture is roughly 90km away and flys with a speed of Mach 23. Thats 23 times the speed of sound. It is interesting to see, that the tail of plasma is relative narrow behind her and holds this state for many seconds until the electrons sublime back with the protons and form a super heated gas that expands...
and 25 minutes later:
what an awesome machine.
and we know the footage from the ground:
(Endeavour reentering at her mission STS 134)
as well as from space:
(Atlantis reentering seen from ISS)
but only one picture exists that shows the reentering from "close up". It was taken from a SR-71 Black Bird and shows Space Shuttle Discovery on her way down to earth:
Discovery at this picture is roughly 90km away and flys with a speed of Mach 23. Thats 23 times the speed of sound. It is interesting to see, that the tail of plasma is relative narrow behind her and holds this state for many seconds until the electrons sublime back with the protons and form a super heated gas that expands...
and 25 minutes later:
what an awesome machine.
