Shuttle's shining stream

[Dewd]

What was it ? Last night, Sept. 09, I observed the Shuttle and ISS make a pass over Wyoming. The shuttle was about 1 minutes ahead of ISS, but was travelling along with a glowing blue-white "contrail ". Except this glowing stream was below and IN FRONT OF the shuttle , stretching out to 75-100 miles or so. This stream looked analagous to a jet contrail , but came down from the shuttle and abruptly turned forward, then went way out in front of it, in two distinct glowing segments that travelled with Discovery.

What was it made of ? A wastewater dump or other volatiles dump from Discovery ? The vapors from thruster or OMS firings ?

This is the third time I've seen this over the years. It's impressive, and I regret not taking my camera and tripod with me.

 

[alpha57441]

I seen it too! I was wondering the same thing. It showed patches of red in the stream too. It was a heck of a show last night! Seen them both for 5 minutes and very bright too. I got to show the neighbor kids of the flyover for the first time they thought it was very cool. LOL I was wondering if it was exhaust particals from the thrusters leading and following it.

 

[PulpMysteryFan]

ISS "tail"?

Last night I watched the Shuttle and ISS pass overhead. (This was in Madison, Wisconsin, at about 8:42.) We noticed a faint "tail" next to the ISS. I'm guessing they vented a tank, or something, and what we saw was the frozen cloud in orbit with the ISS. Did anyone else notice that? Any theories about what caused it?

 

[drwayne]

Don't know about the timing, but there was a thruster firing to get separation from a debris object.

Wayne

 

[MeteorWayne]

Re: ISS "tail"?

I have merged this with the existing thread...

 

[PulpMysteryFan]

Re: ISS "tail"?

(Was that the Shuttle? I had thought the ISS was in front. I guess one bright dot in the sky looks pretty much like another.)

 

[alpha57441]

Found out today the stream was a urine dump. LOL they had not dumped the tank in 10 days! Sure made a nice colorful trail tho.

 

[PulpMysteryFan]

Found out today the stream was a urine dump. LOL they had not dumped the tank in 10 days! Sure made a nice colorful trail tho.

What's your source?

So how long will that cloud be in orbit? Or, if they dumped it after firing their braking rockets, maybe it'll simply re-enter the atmosphere along with the shuttle... This diminishes the experience for me, but I imagine it'll enhance it for my kids when I tell them.

 

[MeteorWayne]

I too am curious about the source of the water dump ID (since Urine is not the only component) as well.

However, the gases and ice I'm sure quickly dissapated....and since the shuttle didn't fire the engines to deorbit until about 2 houirs ago (about 1 hour before landing) it has been long gone into the vacuum....

 

[trailrider]

Yeah, this was a wastewater dump. To prevent contamination of the Kibo module, they now hold such dumps while docked to the ISS. Question: could you ground observers tell if the orbiter had its main landing gear extended...and crossed? :roll: :lol: I mean, that's a long time to hold yer water!

 

[samkent]

If I was traveling at 17,000 mph I go Weeeeeeeee! too.

 

[CalliArcale]

Yeah, this was a wastewater dump. To prevent contamination of the Kibo module, they now hold such dumps while docked to the ISS. Question: could you ground observers tell if the orbiter had its main landing gear extended...and crossed? :roll: :lol: I mean, that's a long time to hold yer water!

ROTFL!!!!

Now *that* is a visual that I'm gonna have a hard time getting out of my head!

FYI, I understand that the dump wasn't just from the wastewater tank. They actually did several dumps, and in addition urine, they were also dumping potable water. The fuel cells produce a huge amount of water during the mission, far more than they could drink (especially since using the potty is a complicated process which I imagine the crew would rather do less if possible). This extra drinking water becomes ballast -- NASA can decide how much to dump to get the Orbiter's COG where they want it. Apparently they needed to dump quite a bit this time.

I've read this IDed on several sites -- spaceweather.com was the first place I read that it was a wastewater dump.