http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog/2008/06/27/say-halo-to-my-little-friend/

“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?”

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!

Sorry couldn’t resist the shocking pun .. If its any consolation, just the image this puts in my mind is agonising!

“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?

Have fun, moderator! Surprised?

BTW. Does this mean I’ve been a naughty human being / poster here or something?

Is Armageddon the last word in warfare?

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.

http://markandmarjorie.blogspot.com/archives/2004_05_16_markandmarjorie_archive.html#108502277554875070

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.

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.

Of course, the only remaining low inclination orbit flight scheduled or likely is the Hubble servicing mission.

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?

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.

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

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.