UFO Roundup/UFOINFO LogoUFO Roundup/UFOINFO Logo  Volume 8
Number 7 February 12, 2003  Editor: Joseph Trainor    "Top
investigators of the Columbia space shuttle disaster are
analyzing a startling photograph--snapped by an amateur
astronomer from a San Francisco hillside--that appears to show a
purplish electrical bolt striking the craft as it streaked
across the California sky" seven minutes before the shuttle
plunged to Earth in eastern Texas.  "The digital image is one of
five snapped by the shuttle buff at roughly 5:53 a.m. (Pacific
or California time, which is 7:53 a.m. Central or Texas time--
J.T.) as sensors on the doomed orbiter began showing the first
indications of trouble. Seven minutes later, the craft broke up
in flames over Texas. The photographer requested that his name
not be used and said he would not release the image until NASA
people had time to examine it."  "Although there can be possible
benign explanations for the image--such as a barely perceptible
jiggle of the camera as it took the t