Colony Video and Still Comparison

Technical Article A3

Analysis of Reentry Video Taken From Colony, Texas

The only visual link between what was happening to Columbia between LOS and the beginning of the most commonly referenced amateur reentry videos is a video taken from Colony Texas which is just north of Dallas. The operator of the camcorder managed to close in on the shuttle for a few of the 60 second duration of the video. Many people believe that this close up shows the back end of the Columbia which from the perspective of the operators location would put the left side of the shuttle facing windward. This video is not referred to anywhere in the official final report. That is because if the Columbia is indeed flying sideways here with the left wing facing forward the entire C.A.I.B. scenario is invalidated. The problem is that this video was shown often on network new reports since the day the disaster occurred. The C.A.I.B. went to the extent of hiring an optical expert to invalidate the video based on the weak ability of the digital zoom to accurately represent shapes at great distances. An analysis of RCS Jet firings which occurred prior to the Columbia passing the Colony field of view agrees with the attitude of the shuttle that appears to be seen in the Colony video. The location of left wing debris in the debris field also favors a scenario where the left wing is facing windward and disintegrating before the right. See, Technical Article A2 Columbia's Final Attitude, Report done for the C.A.I.B. discrediting Colony video.

The fact that the C.A.I.B. puts out the additional effort to discredit the video makes the legitimacy of what it appears to show that much more believable.

The Colony Video was shot by Dan McNew
The Shuttle Columbia: Disaster Strikes Over The North Texas Skies

Fig. TA-A3-1 is a high quality still image taken from the video, (the actual size of the image is 1138 x 734).

Fig. TA-A3-1

The graphic below, designated as Fig. TA-A3-2, shows the relationship of Colony to the Columbia's flight path and the approximate travel duration.

Fig. TA-A3-2

Fig. TA-A3-3 represents a 17 second portion of the Colony video that includes the extreme digital zoom of the orbiter. The complete 60 second video may be viewed at the web site reference below.

The Colony Video was shot by Dan McNew
The Shuttle Columbia: Disaster Strikes Over The North Texas Skies

Fig. TA-A3-3