wrote:

The Rogers Commission held its first hearing on February 6, 1986. News
of "puffs" at lift-off did not reach the media until a week later.
Photos from film cameras appeared at that time.

I don't recall *ever* seeing "dramatic video footage" of a puff,
although after the Rogers Report was released, I did see barely
discernible smoke at the location claimed for a "puff," on FOIA video
footage from camera TV-3.

The viewing angle of camera TV-3 was such that it saw mostly the front
of the shuttle at lift-off. Color photos in the Rogers Report show
either directly east views or mostly rear views of lift-off smoke.

Upon Senate intervention, NASA finally released better-quality TV-3
FOIA video from Mission 51-L. That was shortly before Discovery's
return-to-flight launch from Pad B on September 29, 1988.

Ironically, I did find this later and greater video "dramatic" at
lift-off, but not in the Rusthoven sense. Although I did find fleeting
smoke from a location right-aft outboard of the right SRB, I found that
it was swept rapidly downward and that it provided only the *backdrop*
for what I consider the real drama.

You see, the lift-off smoke visible on good TV-3 video is what I
consider *transition* smoke. It occurs later than the smoke seen in
Rogers' color photos, but not as late as some of the smoke seen in
metric video (and probably even in color film).

What I found "dramatic" is that after right-aft smoke appeared, TV-3
plainly recorded smoke streaming downward from a location *left-aft*
(outboard *or* inboard) of the right SRB. This occurred *after* the SRB
nozzles had well cleared the top of the Tail Sevice Masts.

The latter smoke is just as black as the right-aft smoke. In addition,
its volume and duration equals that of the right-aft smoke. It remained
only for me to ascertain whether black smoke originated from at least
*two* separate locations, both on or near the hydrogen tank's aft dome.

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