Posted on 11/06/2007 7:17:01 PM PST by KevinDavis
This will be the official thread for the landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery.. What a mission!!!!
I wish them a safe and textbook reentry and landing.
No thanks on the ping list, but thanks for starting the thread.
A view from the space shuttle Discovery shortly after it departed the International Space Station on Nov. 5, 2007. On its STS-120 mission, Discovery left behind a bus-sized room for the orbital laboratory and a replacement for one of the Expedition 16 crew. Credit: NASA
I was on the ping list.
Thanks, Kevin. I completely missed the launch as it happened during the worst of the wildfires here, and haven’t kept up with the mission.
What was noteworthy about it?
I have a question. How might I find the info about the path the shuttle will take on landing? I heard today on the radio that it was going to fly over GA. Does that mean that we will be able to see it or hear it? If so, what time will this happen? If you have a link that I can use to get the answers, my sons and I would appreciate it!
Fully story here: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts120/071106fd15/index3.html
ping yes
I saw STS-120 and the ISS pass this morning @ 0448....just beautiful! They passed right by Venus with the crescent moon
just beneath it...really incredible and exciting! Please add me to your ping list. Thanks!
The NASASpaceFlight.com live thread is here. Note that NASASpaceFlight's forums will be closed to guests during deorbit and landing, so if you want to keep up to the minute with their coverage then you'll have to register. This is not a plug for their site, just a friendly reminder.
First landing opportunity puts wheels stop at 1:01 PM ET and the second landing opportunity put wheels stop at 2:36 PM ET. Only Kennedy Space Centre is available for today's attempts. If neither of the opportunities are taken today then all three landing sites will be open for tomorrow's attempts and the shuttle WILL land tomorrow somewhere in the US.
This daylight landing will feature a pass over the continental US. Check the ground paths on the NASA website or the NASASpaceFlight forums to see if they'll cross over your state. Listen for the twin sonic booms and look for the plasma trail (not in that order).
Thanks very much. I usually follow the launch and landing and some of the mission in between but too much happening on this part of the earth at the same time...:)
Okay, I don’t understand most of what folks are saying on the forum, but the screen shots of the astronaut (Scott?) on the end of that arm repairing the solar array panels take my breath away... and, from the posts, it was solar array 4B that was repaired and deployed?
All the best to Flight Engineer Daniel Tani during his time at the ISS. I’ll be back in the morning!!
No problem. I’ve found NASASpaceFlight to be the best resource around.
As far as the major events, they deployed the P4 array, and it had a tear (this was the first array that they had the most trouble with stowing way back late last year). They don’t know if the tear happened during the deploy or stow. But they had an “Apollo 13” moment where the ground team was working around the clock to figure out a fix and send procedures up to them. They ended up putting what they called “cufflinks” into the array to relieve the tension on the hinge. It seems to have worked because the arrays are holding and are properly tensioned.
Anyway, the payload bay doors are closed and the crew has manoeuvred into the communications attitude awaiting the deorbit burn. I’d love to provide live coverage but I’ll be out for most of entry, I’ll be back in time for wheels down if they take the first attempt, which it looks like they will.
Put me back on both the Space Ping and the SciFi ping lists.
Thanks again. I’m back; where is everyone?
I’ve got NASA-TV on; they went into de-orbit burn on schedule.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/index.html
The link for NASA-TV live coverage is halfway down the sidebar at above-linked page.
STS-120 over Australian.... 59 MINUTES TO TOUCHDOWN.
THANKS:)
5.56mm
I am just north of wichita right now. What time and how high in the sky should I look?
spaceflightnow.com
1717 GMT (12:17 p.m. EST)
Discovery has crossed the equator as it flies over the Pacific.
1715 GMT (12:15 p.m. EST)
Onboard guidance has maneuvered Discovery from its heads-down, tail-forward position needed for the deorbit burn to the reentry configuration of heads-up and nose-forward. The nose will be pitched upward 40 degrees. In this new position, the black tiles on the shuttle’s belly and the reinforced carbon-carbon panels on the wing leading edges and nose cap will shield the spacecraft during the fiery plunge through the Earth’s atmosphere with temperatures reaching well over 2,000 degrees F. Discovery will begin interacting with the upper fringes of the atmosphere above the North Pacific at 12:30 p.m. EST.
got it watching now
maybe not?
spaceflightnow.com
1721 GMT (12:21 p.m. EST)
Now 40 minutes to touchdown. Kennedy Space Center’s Shuttle Landing Facility was built in 1975. The concrete strip is 300 feet wide and 15,000 feet long with 1,000-foot overruns at each end. The runway is located about three miles northwest of the 525-foot tall Vehicle Assembly Building.
Discovery is targeting Runway 33, which is the southeast to northwest approach. The shuttle will make a 195-degree overhead turn to align with the runway.
This will be the first daytime landing on Runway 33 since 2002.
spaceflightnow.com
1731 GMT (12:31 p.m. EST)
The shuttle is about 5,000 miles from the runway now.
1730 GMT (12:30 p.m. EST)
ENTRY INTERFACE. Discovery’s thermal protection system is feeling heat beginning to build as the orbiter enters the top fringes of the atmosphere — a period known as entry interface.
The shuttle is flying at Mach 25 with its nose elevated 40 degrees, wings level, at an altitude of 400,000 feet over the northern Pacific Ocean.
Touchdown remains set for 1:01 p.m. EST in Florida.
Alt.: 285,000 ft.
Speed: 17,000 mph
Over northern Pacific Ocean now.
Needs to slow down pretty soon, right?
Its at 15,000mph now, just west of Canada.
Thanks. Clear as a bell in Kansas. Any timing tips and where in the sky to look is appreciated much.
Long, slow turns and the Earth’s atmosphere will accomplish that.
Yeppers, it sure does..
It’s a gorgeous day here!
Here’s the timeline:
11:59:12 AM...Deorbit ignition (dV: 147 mph; dT: 1:58)
12:01:10 PM...Deorbit burn complete (alt: 223.3 sm)
12:30:05 PM...Entry interface (alt: 75.8 sm; vel: 16,979 mph)
12:35:24 PM...1st roll command to left
12:44:14 PM...1st left to right roll reversal
12:48:00 PM...C-band radar acquisition
12:55:16 PM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 (alt: 83,700 feet)
12:57:28 PM...Velocity less than mach 1 (alt: 51,200 feet)
12:58:47 PM...Shuttle banks to line up on runway
(alt: 32,200 feet; 192-degree right turn)
01:01:50 PM...Landing on runway 33
Yes, she’s been describing the banking procedures to “burn off excess speed.”
Coming over Montana now.
Now back over American soil...
YES!!!
waiting north of wichita.
Look now and for the next few minutes.
This is the most crucial phase.
Sorry, don’t think will pass over Wichita...
1741 GMT (12:41 p.m. EST)
Discovery is now 226,000 feet in altitude over Wyoming.
1740 GMT (12:40 p.m. EST)
“You are looking good at Mach 22,” Mission Control just radioed the crew.
Over Nebraska now...!!!
Time for 1st left to right roll reversal
Mach 22...almost unbelieveable...
Looks like northeast Kansas now.
bookmark
It’s at what I call “Columbia Point”...where the Columbia broke up.
Over Missouri now!
Why isn’t this on Breaking News?
I’ll never understand the logic.......
Over Alabama! (Went past corner of Mississippi already) Haulin’ @$$!
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