SHUTTLE LANDING INFORMATION

[Sam5]

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/index.html

NASA TV on live now. Channel 376 on Direct TV satellite system.

Shuttle approaching North Africa now, about to fly over Southeastern Europe in a few minutes.

Sighting opportunities:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata...ties/index.cgi

Check the city nearest you on the list.

Landing time, Kennedy Space Center, Florida, about 4:47 Eastern US time.

[Sam5]

Landing ground tracks.

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/landing.html

Looks like the approach will be over Central America and the Gulf of Mexico.

[Eoanthropus Dawsoni]

Sighting opportunity, Athens, Greece,

Opps, wrong day.

Yeah, they have Shuttle sighting times listed for after it will have landed.

[Sam5]

Technical stuff about landing:

http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/dol_pad.html

[Sam5]

Long range landing map.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/1...sc201_long.gif

[jt-3d]

A couple of the local hams are piping the NASA feed through a couple of local repeaters. Cool.

[kucharek]

Would be great if NASA could provide a path in .kmz-format for Google Earth.

[mickal555]

I wounder hos long the path would be vissible- I wounder if it would be visible up here.

[Dark Helmet]

No-go for the 4:46 landing.

[jt-3d]

Looks like they are taking another pass. The weather looks like it's clearing but it's not clear enough. Maybe the next pass. On the up side, I have a better chance to see this pass.

[mickal555]

Long range landing map.

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/1...sc201_long.gif

Looks like it's comeing up from near australia...

Wish they had a bigger track

[jt-3d]

Sure looks clear on the radar. I guess we'll see but it definately clearing off.

[jt-3d]

Blam, game called due to possible rain. Sheesh, I guess they'll never get back. Oh well.

[Arneb]

5:04 Eastern time - landing for today cancelled due to weather concerns.

Apart from all the concerns about the vessel, I wouldn't mind staying a day longer in that spacious hotel with a view....

[Charlie in Dayton]

Okay, so what's the landing time(s) for Tuesday, and will Paltalk be up and running during this period?

[Arneb]

Here is all you want to know

[Sam5]

See the deorbit map on 218 and 219 to NOR on this page:


http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/crew/landing.html


That's the Alamogordo - White Sands area of New Mexico. That's a dirt landing strip to be used only for extreme emergencies. The shuttle landed there only once, and I heard some NASA guys talking about it on TV. They said the shuttle got filled up with dust and it took them months to clean it out. This whole state is filled up with dust like that.

The Columbia was breaking up when it flew over New Mexico back in 2003.

[jt-3d]

So sometime around 3-4 am central again. I'm in. I vote 218 to KCS. That's the best shot at seeing it, though still not likely.

[Frantic Freddie]

This whole state is filled up with dust like that.

No,it's not.

[Sam5]

This whole state is filled up with dust like that.

No,it's not.

Oh. You must live up in the northern mountains, huh? No dust up there?

[01101001]

Status Report 27

Tuesday Morning Landing Schedule

Weather conditions at KSC for Tuesday are forecast to be similar to today with a slight chance of showers offshore. Edwards is forecast to have acceptable conditions for landing. White Sands' forecast includes a chance of showers.

Preparations are now focused on the first opportunity to land Tuesday which would begin with an engine firing by Discovery at 3:01 a.m. CDT and lead to a touchdown at KSC at 4:07 a.m. CDT. The additional landing opportunities include: a 4:33 a.m. Shuttle engine firing leading to a 5:39 a.m. landing at White Sands; a 4:37 a.m. engine firing leading to a 5:43 a.m. touchdown at KSC; a 6:06 a.m. engine firing leading to 7:12 a.m. touchdown at Edwards; a 6:09 a.m. engine firing leading to a 7:13 a.m. landing at White Sands; and a 7:44 a.m. engine firing leading to a 8:47 a.m. landing at Edwards.

[Andromeda321]

Useless trivia: there is no backup radar should they need to land at White Sands, New Mexico. I know this for a fact because about a month ago I was in the building that used to house the radar and it's no longer used at all (and was only used once anyway). Hmm.

[Dark Helmet]

1st KSC attempt is no-go.

[jt-3d]

Weather looks worse tonight than it did last night.

edit: I be working on my fluid loading too. yyaaarrrr

[jt-3d]

Oh my, Califonia here they come...

[Robert Andersson]

De-orbit burn! =D>

I wish the crew a good ride home.

[jt-3d]

Here we go, alas that last one for a loooong time.

The skipper sounds cute. ops:

Fox nooz is on the scene.

[jt-3d]

I hope all ya'll are sleeping soundly. You are miising a great show. Who cares about a bunch of pictures of Mars dirt at a time like this? Manned space flight means so much more.

[R.A.F.]

Discovery will enter the Earth's atmosphere at 4:40 Pacific time...about 20 minutes from now.

[jt-3d]

Wow a crowd of three are pushing against the railing....

Too bad the newsies didn't get this involved back when the shuttles flew all the time. One reason I can see right now that the public is hohum about space stuff, the NASA announcer dude is dullllll.