Observers

Several days before entry NASA released this graphic showing Columbia's path across the Southern United States.

Columbia's reentry path took it across Northern California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. Had things proceeded properly it would have continued across Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi before reaching Florida.

In California and Nevada Columbia passed over during dark pre-dawn skies, Arizona and New Mexico got to see Columbia around sunrise and Texans got to see Columbia during daylight.

Dr. Jason Hatton was a scientist on the Leukin experiment and is also an experienced amateur astronomer. He saw Columbia's reentry from his home in Mill Valley California and was the first person to realize things were going wrong - even before the first indications of trouble appeared in Mission Control.

Jay Lawson captured this movie from his driveway in Sparks Nevada. From his perspective Columbia passed directly in front of the bright planet Venus. Shortly before Columbia passes in front of Venus there's a bright flash and a piece comes off, identified by the investigation as "Debris #6."

A group of off-duty engineers at Kirtland AFB in New Mexico used this setup with a laboratory CCD camera, a 3 inch consumer telescope, and a computer-controlled tracking system to try to image Columbia.

Here's what they got. This image was released a couple of days after the accident.

After the accident Brian Webb compiled a list of observations from his newsletter's readers. Many were viewing their first shuttle reentries and didn't know what to expect, others were experienced observers. Most of the reports include the subjective comments and feelings. Webb sent a copy of these observations to NASA.