- An Australian astronomer in California could be a key
eyewitness to solving the mystery of the space shuttle disaster.
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- Anthony Beasley, an Australian working at an observatory
north of Los Angeles, said he saw what could be tiles falling off the Columbia
as it flew over California and on its way to the scheduled landing in Florida.
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- Most video footage and eyewitness reports of the shuttle
breaking up came from witnesses in the central US state of Texas.
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- If Beasley is correct, it indicates the shuttle began
to disintegrate on the west coast above California.
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- Beasley telephoned US television network ABC to tell
of his sighting.
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- "After the first few flashes I thought to myself
that I knew the shuttle lost tiles as it re-entered and quite possibly
that was what was going on," Beasley, speaking live, told ABC news
anchor Peter Jennings.
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- The Australian told how he saw "a couple of flashes"
and "things clearly trailing" the shuttle.
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- "I think that after the particularly bright event
I started to wonder whether or not things were happening how they should,"
Beasley said.
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- Two US space experts who were listening to Beasley's
description said the information was highly valuable.
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- They said tiles falling off the shuttle would be too
small to be picked up by NASA radar.
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- "This says that something was coming off the shuttle
far earlier than what happened over Texas would suggest," former space
shuttle astronaut, Norm Thagard, told ABC.
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- "It leads in the direction that tile loss or some
type of structural loss like that was likely to be a cause.
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- But it still doesn't rule out other possibilities."
Former NASA engineer, Jim Oberg, described Beasley's eyewitness report
as "an extraordinary account".
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- "If the left wing is losing tiles you then not only
have overheating in that wing but you have extra drag and it's like flying
along and having your wing run into something," Oberg said.
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- "It could violently turn, twist the nose of the
ship to the left and that would be it. That would be the point where it
would be torn apart."
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- <http://news.com.au/newspulse>
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