The Air Force reportedly got hi-res pictures of Columbia’s left wing just before the shuttle broke up.
Lt. Kelly Jeter, a spokeswoman for Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, confirmed that the base had turned over photographs to NASA.
“One of our telescopes got some shots of it going over,” Jeter told The Associated Press late Thursday. She said NASA had instructed base officials not to comment further.
The base has a high-resolution Starfire telescope that photographs satellites orbiting earth. It can recognize features as small as a foot long on a satellite 600 miles away, base officials said.
Unfortunately they’re keeping the pictures under wraps for the moment.