[Vinnie_Vidi_Vici]

Do "Your" homework sir. don't just read the rehash. I've taken the photo,used a sharpening algorithm on it and changed the gamma to give it the proper contrast. it IS the shuttle at what appears to be a 30 degree down angle vieved from the rear and travelling sideways to the left. No vertical stabilizer appears but flying sideways can play heck with that!

[norton]

Regarding angles -
I've only seen shuttle landings from the landing site (Edwards) so can't address way-high maneuvers but even in the last minutes and down in heavy air the thing points all over the place as it burns off momentum and altitude. I'd lay more concern on the attitude thrusters firing as that would suggest it was already out of control.
Re speed -
When the foam hit the wing the bird was not moving all that fast, something about inertia, force needed to start (lift) a heavy object, etc. Seriously doubt it'd torque the wing OR dislodge a tile except in freak happenstance. Do not know make up of the foam but it's surely not what comes in your sterio carton.
Re images -
I'm pretty sure we have not given up ability to photograph in near space simply because that's where ICBMs come from. I do remember clear shots of orbiters as they came into California during earlier flights.
Also, FOX is showing amateur video of something coming off the shuttle far west of the last transmission.
And,
My boss watched it come over So Cal and immediately decided it was breaking up at that time. That was straight middle aged human vision - not rocket science.

[lepton]

I've taken the photo,used a sharpening algorithm on it and changed the gamma to give it the proper contrast. it IS the shuttle at what appears to be a 30 degree down angle vieved from the rear and travelling sideways to the left.

The photo is symetrical about a vertical "plane" from beginning of blob-phase to end of blob-phase, and is travelling forwards after the focus is regained.

[ContemptofCourt]

Your post makes no sense....first, you are telling me that a standard video camera can accurately photograph an object at 200K feet traveling 12K miles an hour.....second, why would the shuttle be backwards and angled down 30 deg, when it was traveling fowards angled up 57 deg.?

[Cloud William]

I've taken the photo,used a sharpening algorithm on it and changed the gamma to give it the proper contrast. it IS the shuttle at what appears to be a 30 degree down angle vieved from the rear and travelling sideways to the left. No vertical stabilizer appears but flying sideways can play heck with that!

Got your enhanced version of that photo online where we can see it?

[freepersup]

No stabilizer ?

That can be explained easy enough. The ship is traveling at mach 18, give or take a few thousand miles an hour... the stabilizer has detached from the ship as it is not designed to withstand such enormous sideways forces. In fact debris shedding is obvious in the capture.

An aperture illusion ? That's preposterous.