If you haven't heard, this AM's Shuttle ldg has been delayed by about 24 hours.........which has left British TV ( Sky and BBC) desparately trying to fill airtime........ never in the history of TV have so many plastic models been so badly mauled by TV presenters and astronomers trying to explain S turns, dropping bricks and err, landing Flaps (on the Shuttle ???)
CaptainProp
8th Aug 2005, 10:39
From CNN --
"KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Florida (CNN) -- "Unstable" weather conditions prompted NASA to scrub Discovery's scheduled landing Monday, the first space shuttle landing attempt since the Columbia disaster.
Another opportunity is expected for Tuesday at 5:07 a.m. ET at the Florida landing site.
"We've been working hard on this," said entry flight director Leroy Cain at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. "There continues to be a lower layer of clouds from 400 to 500 feet that's been scattered all evening."
The cloud cover, although within NASA's safety limits for landing, were enough to make mission controllers uncomfortable about attempting a Monday touchdown in Florida.
Commander Eileen Collins was given the scrub order from mission controllers at 5:00 a.m. ET.
Officials would prefer to land at Kennedy Space Center to avoid the inconvenience of flying the shuttle back to its launch site from alternative landing strips in California or New Mexico.
Discovery's payload bay doors were closed and astronauts were undergoing final systems checks as the end of their 13-day journey neared on Monday.
During the de-orbital burn, the spacecraft's engines will ignite for about 3 minutes, slowing it enough to begin its fiery journey through the atmosphere.
Discovery's pilot, astronaut James Kelly, said Sunday that returning to Earth is much like riding on a runaway train.
"Once we start re-entering the atmosphere, you start seeing the plasma go by the windows," Kelly said, referring to colorful, super-hot gases.
It's "a very exciting and exhilarating process that ends with being at home," said Kelly, who also piloted a shuttle mission in 2001.
Though it launches into orbit like a rocket, the shuttle returns to Earth like an airplane. As it begins to transition from space, computer-controlled jets guide the shuttle. Once the atmosphere thickens, Discovery's wing flaps and rudder steer it much like they would a conventional aircraft.
When the shuttle slows below the speed of sound, it triggers a sonic boom that alerts Florida residents that the spacecraft is returning home.
It was during re-entry in February 2003 that Columbia broke apart, killing its seven crew members.
Investigators later determined that super-heated gases that normally surround the orbiter as it returns to Earth entered Columbia's left wing through a hole created when insulating foam fell from the shuttle's fuel tank and struck the vehicle during launch.
The Columbia break-up left a trail of debris across Texas and Louisiana and resulted in vows from NASA that tighter safety precautions would be taken on future trips -- and that the problem of falling foam would be solved.
Under new guidelines, Discovery will follow a trajectory that takes it largely over ocean.
Beginning with an orbital speed of about 17,500 mph, the shuttle is scheduled to enter the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean and glide over Nicaragua, Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico.
It then should pass over Florida's Lake Okeechobee and, moving at about 220 mph, touch down at the Kennedy Space Center.
Mission STS-114 largely was designed to improve safety on future shuttle journeys, although the program has been suspended while NASA investigates its failure to solve the problem of foam falling from the shuttle's external liquid fuel tank during launch.
Video from the July 26 launch showed debris falling from the fuel tank, but NASA said it did not appear to have struck the orbiter. Once in space, Discovery's crew used cameras to scrutinize the craft's exterior for possible damage that might pose a threat during re-entry.
The shuttle spent most of the mission docked to the international space station, delivering much-needed supplies and performing maintenance on the outpost.
Astronaut Steve Robinson performed an unprecedented shuttle repair mission by plucking two pieces of filler material protruding between tiles on Discovery's underside. NASA wanted them removed to ensure they wouldn't overheat, damaging Discovery's belly during re-entry.
Mission controllers said an additional spacewalk to fix a damaged thermal blanket under one of the cockpit windows was not necessary. "
Best of luck to the crew tomorrow!!
/CP