Space Shuttle Unleashes Magnificent Plume of Pee

awsome...

since when does ice burn? i'm trying to figure out, how exactly they are saying this is happening? Meteors leave streaks in the sky when they burn in the atmosphere, so does this ball, of mostly water, burn during re-entry?

Mark Anthony Gonsalves: Hello, I am writing this comment to say that I like this Magazine because it contains alot of information about Science. Also, it looks like the people at Popular Science changed the Username field to "Your Name" field. Why did they do that? If anyone wants to find me, I am on www.myspace.com/hotsteppermark. I am currently in Santa Monica, California in the Los Angeles Public Library. I am on desktop Computer PUB22 and the Time is 1:46 P. M., Pacific Standard Time. It's a Wednesday and the Date is September 16, 2009. Also, I have not found a good website that has good quatlity videos of Space. Does anyone know about any websites that they can refer me to? Have a good day.

Oh no not another UPO's,Unidentified Peeing Object sighting.

I saw this last week also. I must have witnessed it right after the dump, because it was obvious there was a cloud of something following the shuttle, but it wasn't a long line like in these photos.
It was really neat though to see the shuttle then a minute later the ISS came along on the same path. I love watching for the ISS and the shuttle when they're visible in my area (Western Iowa)

Wow. Really? how is that leagal to do that? I mean, serios blue ice problem.

I am pretty sure the plume is not self-illuminated via ionization but instead is an expanding "cloud" of ice that is reflecting the sunlight -- as both of these images have high level clouds illuminated by the sunset and the shuttle urine is a wee bit higher.

Ouch

dot dot drip...
'nuff said.
-DaSonicMan

@ TMack2010-- Consider what we mean when we say a meteor
"burns" in the atmosphere: most of the upper atmosphere
where the burning starts consists only of helium and
hydrogen, no oxygen, so it is not "burning"
in the combustion sense! It is simply heating to
the point where the outer layers become incandescent
("white hot"), then melt or evaporate off. Even water will
glow "white hot" if you get it hot enough: consider that
the pale blue flame you see from a laboratory alcohol
burner is blue light emitted by the products of alcohol
combustion: water and carbon dioxide! Normally we think
of the heat of combustion as causing the "burn," but
any energy source can provide the heat to make water or
any other material glow white hot. In the case of meteors,
it is the kinetic energy of the meteor converted to heat by
collisions with helium/hydrogen in the upper atmosphere.
Comets "burn" this way too, and they are mostly water ice.