Boeing Starliner OFT-2 Stage 2 Centaur plume NLC
Taken by Brian Whittaker on May 20, 2022 @
North of Bermuda, North Atlantic Ocean (N35, W065)
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Details:
Boeing’s Starliner OFT-2 left an exhaust plume visible in the evening twilight just off the American East Coast. This high altitude plume was not from the primary Atlas V, but by the Centaur second stage ascending into space. Inside the Boeing Starliner capsule was “Rosie the Rocketeer” as me, and my wife Sharmaine, watched from another Boeing, a B777 at 38,000 feet just north of Bermuda. In 2011, research indicated that the Space Shuttle “Atlantis” contributed to the formation of Noctilucent Clouds. Interestingly, this one hour old plume was photographed at 0002GMT on the 20th May. Could this launch have seeded or triggered the eventual first 2022 NLC display on 22 May 2022, as detected by the AIMS satellite? I suspect it is possible, despite the first predicted sighting of 2022 being inevitable any day soon.
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