Question re SSME on WB-57 ascent video

OK guys, especially Mr. Oberg, Spencer, or any of you other types with
good connections at JSC, I have a question about what I just witnessed
on the replay of Atlantis launch taken from the WB-57 aircraft.

Approximately 20 seconds after SRB sep, there a 3-4 frames of video in
which an odd anomaly appears relative to the center (or #2) SSME.
Instead of the steady white flame, one clearly large and unsteady burst
of orange flame from and around that engine.

I've heard no mention of it in any of the daily briefings, yet the
video caught me so by surprise that, thanks to my Dish Network PVR, I
rewound and replayed that segment several times, at normal and reduced
frame rates. I have to say that to my untrained eye, it looked a bit
alarming. Obviously it shouldn't be a problem for the remainder of 115,
but if it amounts to anything, could be a concern going forward.

So did anyone else happen to notice this, and has anyone heard anything
about odd SSME telemetry during that period?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

"Frank" writes:

Approximately 20 seconds after SRB sep, there a 3-4 frames of video in
which an odd anomaly appears relative to the center (or #2) SSME.
Instead of the steady white flame, one clearly large and unsteady burst
of orange flame from and around that engine.

I haven't seen the video yet, but orange flame around the center SSME
might be the OMS firing. Isn't there some OMS support during ascent?


Jochem

--
"A designer knows he has arrived at perfection not when there is no
longer anything to add, but when there is no longer anything to take away."
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Danny Dot wrote:


"Frank" wrote in message
oups.com...
OK guys, especially Mr. Oberg, Spencer, or any of you other types with
good connections at JSC, I have a question about what I just witnessed
on the replay of Atlantis launch taken from the WB-57 aircraft.

Approximately 20 seconds after SRB sep, there a 3-4 frames of video in
which an odd anomaly appears relative to the center (or #2) SSME.
Instead of the steady white flame, one clearly large and unsteady burst
of orange flame from and around that engine.


I heard Wayne Hale mention in a statement water ice forms on the engines and
can fall off into the plume.

Danny Dot
www.mobbinggonemad.org

"Jochem Huhmann" wrote in message
...
"Frank" writes:

Approximately 20 seconds after SRB sep, there a 3-4 frames of video in
which an odd anomaly appears relative to the center (or #2) SSME.
Instead of the steady white flame, one clearly large and unsteady burst
of orange flame from and around that engine.

I haven't seen the video yet, but orange flame around the center SSME
might be the OMS firing. Isn't there some OMS support during ascent?


It is the OMS Assist burn, it starts about 15 seconds after SRB Sep. The OMS
engines are somewhat near the Center Main Engine.