NASA has cleared the Space Shuttle Endeavour to land in Florida at 12:32 p.m. Tuesday. They have inspected the images of the Shuttle and feel that it is safe to land without screwing around with any of the damaged tiles; working on them might make things worse. Fraser also reports that a micrometeorite hit the windshield. I haven’t seen images yet, but it’s too small to incur any problems. Still, that’s interesting.
Anyway, NASA cut the mission short to bring them home before hurricane Dean hits the gulf. If needed, the Shuttle can land in California, too (ground tracks of the landing path show that it comes in over the gulf for Florida; one day I want to see the thing coming in).
August 20th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
BA,
According to JSC’s online shuttle status reports, the window “ding” is about 0.125″ in diameter, and given some historical impact crater shape data, they’re comfortable its depth is within allowable limits. Not too tough, given that each window is 3 panes thick (and obviously, the “ding” only effects the outer / thermal pane). FWIW, nearly every shuttle flight results in some window damage from on-orbit debris; I suspect that the belly tile “divot” resulted in the press corps being unusually alert to this particular mission’s window damage.
Here’s the status report that talks about the window (6th paragraph):
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=25103
Good images of the “ding” here:
http://collectspace.com/ubb/Forum30/HTML/000596.html
As for seeing a shuttle land, it’s fun — but over in a hurry (and there will only be a few more shuttle landings, so get thee to Florida!). The problem is that shuttles aren’t the best at gliding (in unpowered flight, they’re hardly better than a brick). Once a shuttle’s in visual range, it’s on the ground within a minute or two.
August 20th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Concerning the windshield micrometeorite, a few years ago cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev told a related anecdote at a lecture. He said that, after removing a shield for blocking sunlight from a MIR window after a sleeping shift, he saw that a micrometeorite hit had scratched that window, which was near his sleeping place.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
>one day I want to see the thing coming in
Living in central Texas I have had the good fortune to watch several nighttime shuttle reentries. Spectacular does not begin to describe the sight.
I have watched one landing-the one and only in New Mexico. Near the end of the flight, the shuttle seems to be dropping like a rock!
I also had the misfortune of observing one daytime reentry-Columbia’s last flight.
Chip Gentry
Austin, TX
August 20th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Well, given about 12 hours notice, you could definitely make it to Mojave.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
I was in Cocoa Beach years ago when the shuttle was coming in. I went to an area where I was pretty sure I could see it, and waited. Trouble was, it was night time. I guess I expected running lights like an airplane or something.
I heard the sonic boom, but did not see the shuttle.
I did see it come in on a 747 one time. That was cool. And a launch. Also cool, but not like the Saturn 5 launch I remember from my teen years.
August 20th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
This morning, Monday 21/08/2007 just after 06:30 our time, some woman phoned radio station TripleM in Brisbane to relate that she saw the Shuttle re-entering! She described a long “vapour trail” with a “globe” at the front. I winced, as I realised she had probably seen and misidentified a jet contrail illuminated by the rising sun. Still, it’s probably easy to do if you don’t know what a re-entering shuttle actually looks like. It seems we still have the job ahead of us, Phil.
August 20th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
One thing I’ve been wondering about is why they don’t use a sacrificial material for the heat shield. In place of the ceramic tiles they could use a material that vaporizes and as it does so removes excess heat energy during re-entry. Then after after landing it is simply stripped away and replaced. Is there anyone else out there with thoughts along these lines?
August 20th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Sorry JB, but isn’t Monday the 20th?
Anyway, I’m just hoping that, tile-damage, micrometeorite impact or whatever, they all get down safe.
But, as a side question (and recognising that I’m out of touch on these things nowadays), what vehicle will be used to relay future residents of the ISS into space? In other words, what launch capability is envisioned when the Shuttle programme ends?
August 20th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
I don’t think there are many chances left of seeing it from Colorado. As I understand it, they only do ascending (north-bound) pass re-entries from high inclination orbits like those to the ISS at 51 degrees. This is something to do with avoiding flying through noctilucent clouds. Columbia was doing a descending pass re-entry from a low inclination orbit (39 degrees) when it had its accident so that happened over the US – luckily for the accident investigation, at least.
Of course, the only remaining low inclination orbit flight scheduled or likely is the Hubble servicing mission.
August 20th, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Selina – until the Constellation program gets up and running, we are going to be at the “mercy” of the Russian space program to ferry crew up to ISS, which is something Dr. Griffin is not very happy about.
When the shuttle is retired in 2010, there will be a space of 4-5 years where we will have no capabilities (that I know of) to launch astronauts into space. I still think they could “back off” the retirement of the shuttle. It’s not like NASA/Congress haven’t changed their minds before.
RayCeeYa – the ablative coating you speak of (used on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions) is more than likely too costly to effectively use on the shuttle. I believe (and someone can correct me) that it was discussed before the current tiles were decided upon. In fact, the tiles in use today are different than those used originally.
Personally, I’m just hoping the shuttle makes it down safe.
August 20th, 2007 at 6:12 pm
Da BA said: (ground tracks of the landing path show that it comes in over the gulf for Florida; one day I want to see the thing coming in).
That’s generally pretty hard. The ground track you linked to is different from the ones I’ve seen before, but basically, over the Gulf the thing is too far away to make out, and in fact, this holds true for just about all of the state. The nearest vantage points, such as Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge and Canaveral Beach, are all closed during landings, so your closest view is better than 6 miles away from the skid pad. Unless, of course, your credentials as a world-famous astronomer and space-program supporter get you into the space center
From this page:
“At an altitude of approximately 30 miles, the orbiter makes a series of maneuvers and S-turns to slow its speed. At 9.5 miles in altitude and at a speed of Mach 1, the orbiter can be steered using its rudder. The on-board computers fly the orbiter until it goes subsonic (slower than the speed of sound: Mach 1). This happens about 4 minutes before landing. At this time the commander takes manual control of the orbiter and flies a wide arc approach. At 7.5 miles from the runway, the orbiter is flying about 424 miles per hour at an altitude of 13,365 feet. About 2 miles from the runway, the orbiter is flying at nearly 360 miles per hour on a glide slope of 22 degrees.”
Something that most people never realize is that, when the Columbia broke apart on re-entry over Texas, at a rough speed of Mach 19, it was only 15 minutes from scheduled touchdown in Florida. Deceleration and descent are routinely pretty steep.
By the way, Google Earth or Google Maps, go to “N 28.615857 W 80.694734″ and tool around.
August 20th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
Got to see a couple of the early landings at Edwards- we camped up there in a fenced-off area NASA had set up for the first weekend landing after Columbia. There were about 400,000 people there to see it come in. I have to rank that as one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It’s over in about a minute or two, but that sonic boom rumbles right through your guts. You don’t hear it, you FEEL it. That was also the worst single traffic jam I’ve ever been in, but it was worth it. Too bad I’m too far from Edwards now (about 120 mi) to head over in case of a Cape waveoff. The first landing I saw was accompanied with a trip to Mojave to see the Rutan Voyager (around the world, no stops, no refueling) through the hangar doors, still under construction. That was a serious day!
August 21st, 2007 at 7:13 am
I’ve never seen any shuttle launches, re-entries or anything in person. At a hyper- cool hotel in New Haven, I caught the Atlantis touchdown in live time on the news. I love live-time! It’s on my to-see list, right up there with the Olympic Games. I’ve been following this mission with great interest. Good luck, Endeavour!
August 21st, 2007 at 7:17 am
My first and only witness of a shuttle landing was incredible, partly due to the fact that I was working at NASA at the time. I wrote it up on my blog a while back:
http://markandmarjorie.blogspot.com/archives/2004_05_16_markandmarjorie_archive.html#108502277554875070
August 21st, 2007 at 9:53 am
Deorbit on orbit 202 looks like it will pass very close to Dean, 201 should go well to the east though. However, if I understand correctly, the issue isn’t that the Dean being in the Gulf might threaten the shuttle – it’s that it might have threatened mission control in Houston. That threat has now vanished, but as they left the ISS early there’s not much point in keeping them hanging around in orbit.
August 21st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Selina,
Of course, you’re right. I wrote my reply on Tuesday 21st, not Monday. My lapse had nothing to do with the International Date Line, and everything to do with posting my reply before 08:00 and not having had my coffee yet. Sorry.
June 26th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Well the ‘Endeavour’ did land safely and, since this post thread started, several more space shuttle missions have returned in success & triumph so here’s my ridiuculously, ludicrously, insanely belated congratulations to all those involved on the the very exceedingly remote possibility someone in the future (whether that’s in 5 min or five years time) stumbles over here again!
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Is Armageddon the last word in warfare?
June 26th, 2008 at 7:09 am
This comment is “awaiting moderation” – wow!
Have fun, moderator! Surprised?
BTW. Does this mean I’ve been a naughty human being / poster here or something?
June 26th, 2008 at 7:13 am
The Bad Astronomer almost possibly rudely stated :
“They have inspected the images of the Shuttle and feel that it is safe to land without screwing around with any of the damaged tiles; …”
Well of all the things to engage in the act of coitus with!!!
Would shuttle tiles after re-entry make for red-hot loving or what?
June 26th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Would shuttle tiles after re-entry make for red-hot loving or what?
Sorry couldn’t resist the shocking pun .. If its any consolation, just the image this puts in my mind is agonising!
June 26th, 2008 at 7:21 am
D’oh!
I meant to delete that last slightly more risque line from the first of my posts above so it could deleted by the Moderator in her / his wisdom if so desired and still leave the rest of the post intact .. Why oh why can’t we edit here please???
Of course all this too must now survive the Moderator Awaits! Red text?
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“All things in moderation – including moderation.”
- Socrates and now being quoted by this person who generally takes everything to excess!
June 27th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
Cool! The comment here :
“Well the ‘Endeavour’ did land safely and, since this post thread started, several more space shuttle missions have returned in success & triumph so here’s my ridiculously, ludicrously, insanely belated congratulations to all those involved!”
that had vanished has reappeared!
Thanks Moderators or BA or whoever! I’m still notsur ewhat happened but I’m glad whatever did go wrong sems tonow be working again …
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Yes, you guessed it, my computer skills like my typing aren’t that great. Now if onlywe could edit our posts here .. It would be absolutely perfect as opposed to just 95% perfection!
Sigh. (Content & sad-ish mingled sigh)
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Apollodorus : “O Socrates how it grieves me to see you die so undeservedly!”
Socrates : “My dear Apollodorus, would you rather see me die deservedly?”
June 27th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Return link so folks coming from there can goback there!
http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/06/27/say-halo-to-my-little-friend/