Shuttle Discovery Lands Safely 668
Tuxedo Jack writes "CNN and NASA report that the space shuttle Discovery has landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Concerns for its safe return were raised when spacewalks were necessary to repair the vehicle when external components were damaged; however, the shuttle landed safely with Commander Eileen Collins at the control yoke."
Welcome home (Score:3, Interesting)
What was that? (Score:5, Interesting)
Just curious...
anyone else woken up by the sonic booms? (Score:5, Interesting)
Almost Home (Score:3, Interesting)
Land the shuttle yourself (Score:3, Interesting)
I love this page, and it seems to be an opportune moment.
Land the shuttle yourself [x-plane.com] you macho.
Re:Welcome home (Score:5, Interesting)
Slashdot interview! (No, I'm serious. Good publicity for them among people who want to see the space program continue.)
Heard the sonic boom... (Score:5, Interesting)
It Took Them Less Time to De-orbit Than The Drive (Score:2, Interesting)
. . . to Edwards' South, West, or North [google.com] gates will take
Re:woman driver lands shuttle safely (Score:5, Interesting)
Collins gave the reporter a half-condesending look and said "There is no significance".
Finally, we have reached a point where no one gives a shit about equality of the sexes questions. I think we can say the women's rights movement has culturally ingrained itself into American Culture, because no one really gives a shit about it anymore.
Never gets old (Score:5, Interesting)
I was tuned into NASA to when Columbia launched and heard mission control talking about the foam impact on the lead wing. That whole mission I kept shaking my head at follow up reports that the damage was inconsequential. I got up just in time to watch Columbia break up that morning. It was a heart-rending thing to see happen live.
This morning was fascinating. NASA coverage on the web just absolutely rocks. Even with the visual on the shuttle the whole way down, I still have a hard time conceptualizing that nature of that descent, from 17K mph 220 miles altitude to wheels stopped on the ground in a hour.
Incredible. Flawless. Heroic.
Great work NASA, JPL, Discovery crew! Welcome home. I hope you fly again, soon.
-rcmiv
Re:anyone else woken up by the sonic booms? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Heard the sonic boom... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Bogus physics on CNN ... (Score:3, Interesting)
I'm surprised they used "subsonic" in a sentence.
DT
Re:woman driver lands shuttle safely (Score:1, Interesting)
I thought the same thing until an hour ago.
I was watching the coverage of the landing and it struck me that every other person being interviewed was female, as was a third(?) of the crew on the mission. I turned to my military contractor friend and told her how cool that was, and she replied "it's not 'cool,' it's the law. NASA's a government agency. They're required to hire or recruit a certain percentage of females."
They're all capable, bright, and equally qualified, but don't think for a moment that NASA is at all reflective of mainstream American culture.
Re:Groan... (Score:2, Interesting)
Saw the plasma trail... (Score:5, Interesting)
We went in to watch the landing, and the plasma trail was still boiling away overhead (faintly) when it touched down at the Cape just NINE MINUTES LATER.
Then we realized just how blazing fast this thing drops in for a "landing", since it traveled 1000 miles in under 10 minutes, and made a perfect landing. Rocket scientists deserve their title.
Future of Space Program Uncertain? (Score:2, Interesting)
Please tell me why the future of the space program is uncertain? I it because 14 people died in 113 flights? More people died building bridges and monuments in this country. That hasn't stopped us from building them. In fact the idea of NOT bulding brides or monument would have likely been scoffed at. The space program, not unlike our bridges, are a natural extension of our efficiency and quest for resources. It would be a mistake to question our mission to expand beyond our known boudaries.
I understand safety is a grave concern. But let's not second guess ourselves. We are a technologically advanced culture that advances more than a "small leap" by learning from our mistakes and our successes. Let's not forget the 1980's...which was our most prolific period of manned space flights. I welcome a return to those times.
Thank you NASA for continuing to go where our collective consciousness fears to tread.
Shuttle Discovery makes miraculous journey (Score:2, Interesting)
Landing on the moon = cool,
Finding life at the bottom of the ocean = cool
Finding over a dozen new planets past Pluto = cool
Rolling around on Mars = cool
Discovering big bang/dark matter/universe expansion = cool
They are cool because they alter our understanding of the universe.
Touching up the shuttle in orbit while talking to the president of Japan = totally boring
Maintenance trips to the space station = boring
Looking at panoramic views of Earth from space for the 5 zillionth time = super boring
Doesn't mainstream media have anything better to report on in the science world? Is the problem with the reporting or the slow progression of scientific discoveries?
Re:Why bother? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Why bother? (Score:2, Interesting)
36 years ago we had men on the Moon. Now we can barely get into orbit, and when we do, all we think about is getting back down again.
Why can't we go back to the Moon? Have NASA forgotten all the technology they used? Did someone burn all the manuals and steal the spaceships?
We should be on Pluto by now.
Re:Welcome home (Score:2, Interesting)
Compare to the Space Shuttle Main Engines [wikipedia.org]:
And just to place things in perspective, the dry weight [wikipedia.org] of the orbiter is 104 metric tonnes. When you keep in mind that the wings on the orbiter are only to slow the descent (it doesn't actually "fly" in the strictest sense of the word), the 2.7 metric tonnes of force [google.com] provided by the OMS simply isn't enough to do anything other than destabilize an already precarious flight envelope.
Re:Never gets old (Score:1, Interesting)
Nerd nitpick: it's a stick, not a yoke (Score:3, Interesting)
Maybe a pilot can explain it better than I can, but the difference is somewhat like this: a yoke has two different types of motion: you can rotate it like a steering wheel, and you can push/pull it. A stick is like the video game joysticks we all know and love. The shuttle is flown with the latter when under human control (although it's still connected via a digital fly-by-wire system).
If you look at pictures of the shuttle cockpit, you can clearly see a stick there. I suggest comparing the cockpit interiors of Boeing and Airbus (except the A300) commercial jets on airliners.net for an illustration of the differences.
Re:anyone else woken up by the sonic booms? (Score:2, Interesting)
I only got 2 hours of sleep last night because, in part, I kept worrying about it jolting me awake. I'm not complaining but I may be if it were a daily occurrence because I don't think it is the sort of thing I'd ever get used to hearing. It wouldn't make any difference if it boomed with a British or French accent.
ignores some major things (Score:2, Interesting)
A lot of the european countries are really worried that we'll retire the shuttle leaving billions of euros of ISS hardware firmly planted on the Earth.
The primary reason the Soyuz works so well is because it has one single job, bring 3 cosmonauts to space and back. That is *all* it does. The shuttle had an unrealistic number of expectations placed on it. It is capable of a lot of things although may of the original design intents are now too dangerous to risk life for. That's things like orbit very large intelligence satellites, etc.
Another reason the BBC commentator's comments are ignorant are based on the fact that until very recently, NASA was unable to pay for Soyuz and the Russians didn't have the cash to send more than the minimum. NASA couldn't pay for Soyuz due to a law passed that banned NASA for paying for any space related hardware to persuade Russia to stop helping Iran on it's nuclear weapons program.