"Matt Whiting" wrote in message
...
You mean an SR-71 allegedly flew through the area the shuttle had just
flown through? Or did I missinterpret what you wrote above.

The way I read the original message, it was the explosion that consumed the
oxygen, not the normal combustion of the fuel. That is, when the Shuttle
exploded, the hydrogen fuel tanks (contained within the main fuel tank)
released their contents, the hydrogen subsequently burned all at once,
consuming enough oxygen in the area to cause the SR-71 engine problem.

So, the normal operation of the Shuttle rocket engines isn't relevant to
that question.

It still sounds like BS to me. I doubt that any oxygen-poor area would
exist beyond the visible area of smoke left from the explosion, and so the
SR-71 pilot would have had to fly through a visible area of contamination.
Either there's one really dumb SR-71 pilot out there (hardly seems likely),
or the story is just a fabrication.

Pete