Shuttle Re-entry

[Fly_Chick]

Has anyone seen a shuttle re-entry, particularly at night? STS114 is scheduled back Monday morning at 4:46 am EDT. Just wondering what to expect or what to look for. The news stated there would be a sonic boom.

I have not seen any TFRs yet for the re-entry time-frame either.

 

[KigAir]

How many night landings have there been? I thought all landings were done during the day.

 

[lowlycfi]

Saw one at night once. It was about 4am and I was walking to a deer blind up in the Texas Hill Country. Scared the s--- out of me at first because I had no idea what it was. Looked like a BIG meteor except it was traveling horizontally and leaving a big smoke/vapor trail that was backlit by moonlight. Very cool. Didn't know what I was looking at until I got home and read the newspaper and saw the shuttle had come home.

 

[ifleyelearz]

I heard it'll be coming from the south this time...over Cuba and the Gulf. Too bad I'm not in FL...that would be a pretty sweet site!

 

[Fly_Chick]

I heard it'll be coming from the south this time...over Cuba and the Gulf. Too bad I'm not in FL...that would be a pretty sweet site!

Anyone know what rwy, 15 or 33? If from the south I am assuming rwy 33. Someone once posted the approach plate, yet cannot find it right now.

 

[Flying Illini]

Should be pretty cool. I'm a little surprised they are doing this one at night. All launches have to be during the day for photographs...figured that for the first re-entry, this one would have to be during the day as well.

Funny isn't it? The news has the timeframe for reentry, yet the FAA hasn't issued a TFR yet. And people wonder why pilots bust TFRs...b/c they pop up at the last minute when they've known about the need to issue this particular one for nearly 9 days now!

 

[Resume Writer]

I just hope the re-entry is without tragedy. Commander Husband on the last shuttle was the brother of an AWA pilot that I used to fly with all the time. It was a very sad time for the family. He was very proud of his brother.
Kathy

 

[User546]

There's been quite a few night time shuttle landings. None in the past couple years I can think of, but at the begining of the the shuttle program they came in quite frequently at night.

A search on the web revealed that up to 2001, there had been 18 night landings previously. 13 having landed in Florida.

 

[TonyC]

There's been quite a few night time shuttle landings. None in the past couple years I can think of,...

Of course, there haven't been any day landings in the last couple of years, either.







.

 

[KigAir]

Anyone know what rwy, 15 or 33? If from the south I am assuming rwy 33. Someone once posted the approach plate, yet cannot find it right now.

I'd like to hear their missed approached brief.

 

[cj610]

I saw the shuttle re-enter one night. We were flying from Detroit down to Houston. Up at FL410. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a shooting star...so I thought. No, its not buning out. Must be a meteor or ICBM. We metioned it to ATC that there was this fire shooting across the sky. They didn't seem to concerned about it. When we got down to Houston and walked into the FBO we saw on CNN that the shuttle had just safely landed in Florida.

It came in from the west going east. As it shot through the sky it left an orange contrail of fire behind it. It only took like 4 or 5 minutes to go from the horizon in the west to the horizon to the east. It was a little disturbing flying at FL410 and seeing this thing way above us and not knowing what it was.

CJ610

 

[2000flyer]

STS-114 is due to land at 4:46AM EDT. As others have said, the approach will be from the south. I wonder if Cuba issued an over flight permit and will charge them for it!

In all seriousness, lets hope this goes without a hitch.

Side note: on a previous flight the commander was said he wanted to be as close as possible to his target speed over the numbers. He missed it by 0.3 knots. Now thats impressive!

 

[minitour]

Side note: on a previous flight the commander was said he wanted to be as close as possible to his target speed over the numbers. He missed it by 0.3 knots. Now thats impressive!

Wasn't there a story on the first shuttle mission similar to that? There were two guys in the shuttle (can't remember who), but the one was calling out airspeeds and just as he reached (I wanna say 186) the airspeed they were supposed to land at they heard the mains squeek on...

Pretty impressive there if ya ask me.

-mini

 

[TurboS7]

The track will bring it right over my house, guess I have to get up at 0420 to get on the roof and watch it.

 

[Godvek]

Does anyone know if the Shuttle auto lands from re-entry? For some reason I believe the commander and pilot do not land it themselves unless the computers have malfunctioned. Also, there are two sonic booms during re-entry. The wing and elevator boom at different times, from what I have heard. But what do I know, I am not a Shuttle pilot.

 

[Fly_Chick]

Does anyone know if the Shuttle auto lands from re-entry? For some reason I believe the commander and pilot do not land it themselves unless the computers have malfunctioned. Also, there are two sonic booms during re-entry. The wing and elevator boom at different times, from what I have heard. But what do I know, I am not a Shuttle pilot.

I cannot find it now, yet there was a post on flightinfo a couple months ago about the re-entry, one shot only, pure glide, 15 degree glide slope.

I also heard there is the initial sonic boom, then a second aftermath of the sound. Anyone know how much time after the sonic boom and the actual landing? Just checking to see if I can wait until the sonic boom to get out of bed and have enough time to watch the landing.

 

[SiuDude]

The landing is planned for runway 15. The shuttle will come from the SSE and enter the heading alignment cylinder counterclockwise: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/124490main_sts114_ksc201_short.gif

I'll be there!
This morning, about 5 a.m., both the shuttle and the ISS passed over central Florida (had a great view from MCO). First the shuttle appeared, followed shortly by the ISS. It's a neat site to see two "stars" move quickly through the entire sky in unison.

 

[JCJ]

Here is the thread with the approach plate

http://forums.flightinfo.com/showthread.php?t=55365

the link to the approach plate is towards the end of the thread

It is an MLS approach. I think it's actually hand flown

 

[Fly_Chick]

Thanks JCJ!

 

[MKaprocki]

The only crew intervention required is to lower the gear and to brake on the ground. Although it can land by itself, I believe they usually hand fly it through the end of the TAEM phase.

 

[User546]

Of course, there haven't been any day landings in the last couple of years, either.

I meant the past couple years when they were actively flying the space shuttle! I knew I should've clarified that earlier!

Anyways... Good luck to the Discovery crew tomorrow! I'm sure it'll go off without a hitch!

 

[User546]

The landing is planned for runway 15. The shuttle will come from the SSE and enter the heading alignment cylinder counterclockwise: http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/124490main_sts114_ksc201_short.gif

That's some pretty cool telemetry! Judging by the data shown, the shuttle is currently travelling at 4.7 miles a second, 282.3 miles a minute, at a cool 66.4 miles above the earth!

 

[hotwings402]

About what time will the sonic boom be heard?

 

[mzaharis]

That's some pretty cool telemetry! Judging by the data shown, the shuttle is currently travelling at 4.7 miles a second, 282.3 miles a minute, at a cool 66.4 miles above the earth!

I have a hunch that the picture must have been a screenshot from a previous mission - 4.7 mps and 66.4 miles altitude are more indicative of the start of a reentry, and aren't quite compatible with a stable orbit, and would represent numbers typical after the OMS reentry burn. Entry interface is considered to have occurred at 400,000 feet (76 miles).

Interesting info from the Space Shuttle News Reference - Written back in 1988, so the software and avionics references are a bit out of date, but the rest of it is pretty accurate, and possibly the best source of info on Shuttle operations.

Deorbit:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/events/deorbit/

Entry through to landing:
http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/shuttle/reference/shutref/events/entry/

BTW, is that approach plate for real? It looks good, but the pilots would have been managing their approach via TACAN considerably prior to the region covered by the plate, and wouldn't have a particularly long amount of time to transfer to using approach plates for the approach, especially given that they're relying on computer information for energy management. Is that a spoof (albeit a somewhat convincing one, as far as I can tell) because I find it difficult to believe that the pilots are looking at it while landing. The only real use for it that I could see is if they needed to make them to satisfy some FAA paperwork requirement.

 

[Groundpounder]

Do you think I'll be able to see or hear anything in Ft Lauderdale? The ground track looks like it will be over the western part of the state, and I don't want to get out of bed at 0400 for nothing.

 

[NJdispatcher]

Looks like a 0622E ETA now due to low clouds. Also being reported by MSNBC that this would be the second and final landing opportunity.Not sure what they need for landing mins but Melbourne's TAF is

(2)TAF AMD KMLB 080614Z 080606 21004KT P6SM SCT006 BKN250
TEMPO 0811 BKN005 BKN200

 

[groundpointsix]

CNN is reporting they scrubbed the landing for this morning; they'll try again tomorrow at 0507 Eastern.

 

[SiuDude]

Several stations in Orlando, as well as CNN, have been showing an animation of the flight path, that will be flown by the shuttle, using satellite maps powered by Google Earth. The funny thing, is that their animation shows the shuttle landing at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, as opposed to the Shuttle Landing Facility. Should somebody tell them? Nah.

 

[Lilah]

Had a heads up from some friends at JSC and made some plans to witness a shuttle reentry over Texas. It was in the late 1990s and flew about the same track Columbia flew on her last mission.

We lived in the Houston area, rented a plane, and flew to the north side of Conroe, not exactly sure what we were looking for. We'd see points of light, speculate, and then be dissapointed when they didn't really move.

The rear seat passenger saw it first, and there was NO question what we were seeing. As it passed, it left a spectacular glowing plasma trail from horizon to horizon! It remained glowing minutes after the shuttle had passed.

To give you an idea how impressive it was, our passenger, not a pilot at the time, said she would willingly get up at any hour of the night to see it again. It was one of the more spectacular things I've seen from an airplane as well.

BTW, it was night time when the shuttle made it's descent over us, and ever since I check the groundtrack to see if it's ever going to be anywhere near I happen to be.

Lilah

 

[kilroy]

The first time I heard the sonic boom I thought a car hit my house pretty intenseI've only seen a re-entry once pretty cool.