| This photograph was taken 76.795 seconds after launch, 3.582 seconds after the breakup started and 0.734 seconds after the previous image. |
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This image clearly shows that the crew cabin, its vapor trail diffusing, has separated completely from the rest of the fuselage while the nose section above it trails white smoke from the burning of the forward maneuvering thrusters' fuel. In this image, the cabin actually appears to be veering upward while the nose section falls downward; this is a trick of perspective caused by the angle to which the camera had rotated as it tracked the shuttle. Challenger's trajectory was mainly upward during this portion of its climb to orbit, and much of the debris actually "fell" upward for a couple of miles before gravity and aerodynamics overcame momentum. Tilting one's head to the right allows for a more accurate perspective of the nose section's and cabin's diverging paths. |
