Explanation Of Still Frame
In the video that I shot, there are a few seconds where I zoomed in tight on the shuttle and captured something that took me a couple of days to figure out. After hours of studying the picture and comparing it to shuttle specification drawings and models, I have come to a conclusion that what I captured was the shuttle Columbia in a slow spin just seconds before the major break up began and after it had lost sections of both wings, vertical stabilizer (tail section), and all 3 engine cones. This would at least explain the 2 large pieces of debris trailing behind the shuttle as seen in my video. Below are drawings of the shuttle before and after. In the comparison photo keep in mind that the shuttle was 38 miles above me and about 60 miles down range so what you see is the bottom of the shuttle, nose pointing away from the camera, and the rear of the shuttle towards the camera. This puts the shuttle 90 degrees out of position. NASA confirmed around 3 weeks into the investigation that the shuttle was in a 20 degree per second spin.
Before / Rear View After / Rear View