[Old Pa]

Sure glad to see them back without further incident. Don't mind saying I was having a few words with the Big Guy after they fired their retroes; glad to see it didn't hurt. The IR video feed on the shuttle on short final was a gift from God.

 

[Mikey01]

I wonder who gets the job of scrapping off all the stuff that got plastered on the back wall of the shuttle as they left weightlessness and returned to gravity at a zillion miles per hour?

 

[Usagi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KYTGuy I once went to Edwards and watched the landing in person, and it was just after I learned to fly - the way that the Shuttle "Flies" truly takes the breath away, if you are a pilot, and you see it in person...when you first hear the Shuttle "BOOM-Boom", you can't even pick it out, it is so high and far away...then when it is on Downwind leg, it is just visible as a speck...turning base, it just begins to look like the shuttle, and then on final, it is looming large - the whole process is less than 5 minutes, and it goes from 660 mph and 50,000 feet to in your face, and HERE!!! It just kinda falls with direction, more than really flies - only acts/looks like it is "Flying" when it is in ground effect. Truly astounding. MAJOR Props to anyone who sticks a landing in the things.

This is why they refer to the Orbiter as the "Flying Brick"! It has a ratio on the order of 1 to 1. It is the worst glider ever produced.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mjg Man, i know there is alot of hype about this, but let's not make this the latest media induced obsession, they've landed shuttles for years, they have a pretty damn good track rate too. There's nothing different now then before, just the amount of information they have about failures.

Yes, but I see this as a good thing. If NASA receives massive amounts of attention then I believe this puts more pressure on the administration to do things right. Also, I would like to see NASA, and any other member that is apart of the "coalition of the willing", to get its act together and reach for Mars. The more attention they receive now, the more money will be allotted for space programs in the future.

 

[dreamnid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Usagi Cross your fingers. Let's hope that everything goes well. I'm trying to find the flight path to see if it's possible to see the orbiter from Alaska. If anybody has any ideas in the next half-hour let me know.

Obviously late now, but you would not have been able to see it from Alaska as they started the de-orbit I believe around Madagascar and entered the Earth in the South Pacific.

Here was the link you were looking for:
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/landing.html

The one you're looking for is labeled "De-orbit to EDW on Orbit 219."
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I never knew that the shuttle have to do a pretty sharp bank before they land (I believe it was 190" for this landing) especially at the speeds they are going at. The other thing that always gets me is how they deploy the landing gears literally 3 seconds before touch down and how fast they come down.

Landing was awesome - watched in on Nasa TV

 

[Czilla9000]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 3lusiv3 Ok, so who's a pilot around here? I'm not. Has anybody at head-fi been in space?

I am currently in the process of working towards my pilots license. I am 18 years old, and my father is my flight instructor (and yes...he is licensed to instruct by the FAA

).