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How Shuttle will brought back to Kennedy Space Centre

NASA will bring Discovery from California to Kennedy Space Center, Florida since it is the shuttle’s only launch site. NASA owns a pair of Boeing 747s dubbed Shuttle Carrier Aircraft that stay at Edwards Air Force Base for most of the year awaiting wayward space shuttles.

Before attaching Discovery to Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, NASA personnel will lift the shuttle off the ground using a crane-like device. They’ll then roll the 747 underneath before lowering the shuttle onto to the top of the airplane.

The shuttle is roughly three-fourths the length of the carrier plane. Binding the two together creates an unwieldy, double-decker contraption. (Click here yo see photos.) Due to the piggybacked plane’s lousy aerodynamics and sizeable weight, the SCA’s fuel efficiency is significantly less than that of a commercial airliner. As a result, an SCA can’t fly more than 1000 nautical miles without refueling. The trip back will take up to 12 hours of flight time spread over two or three days.

Throughout the voyage, a plane known as a "pathfinder" flies ahead and acts as a kind of weather scout. The shuttle’s external tiles are highly susceptible to the elements. To make sure they don’t get damaged, the pathfinder looks out for storm clouds and warns the SCA pilots of upcoming high winds or turbulence.

According to NASA, the price tag for a cross-country shuttle trip is around $230,000.

posted by: kyawoo at 11:27 | link | comments (1) |
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Shuttle Quote

"The Columbia crew believed in what they did, they believed in the space mission and I know if they were listening to me right now they would certainly want us to continue." - Colonel Eileen Collins, shuttle commander

posted by: kyawoo at 23:50 | link | comments |
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Shuttle lands safely

Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base at around 1212 GMT after bad weather forced a change to the intended Florida landing site.

At 1106 GMT, the shuttle fired its two Orbital Manoeuvring System engines for about two minutes 42 seconds, at an altitude of around 205 miles. The shuttle started to experience the burning effects of the atmosphere at about 1140 GMT, pitching down and then up so the protected underside is exposed to the most intense heating.

It hit the atmosphere an altitude of 75 miles and a speed of about 17,000mph. Under certain circumstances, the shuttle’s belly can be subjected to temperatures of 1,600C (3,000F) - hot enough to melt steel.

Discovery banked from side to side four times in order to lose speed before landing.

posted by: kyawoo at 11:35 | link | comments (1) |
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Shuttle landing delayed

Space shuttle Discovery’s landing has been delayed for 24 hours due to bad weather at its landing site. Other landing opportunities are scheduled for Tuesday at Kennedy Space Center and back-up strips at Edwards Air Force Base in California and White Sands in New Mexico. While the forecast for Kennedy is similar for tomorrow, the outlook at Edwards Air Force Base is favourable all week.

posted by: kyawoo at 10:51 | link | comments |
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How Shuttle lands

1. The shuttle flies upside down to control its heating.
2. It turns tail first to the direction of travel, and fires its engines to reduce speed.
3. Then ir is flipped the right way up and enters the top layer of the atmosphere at about a 40-degree angle from horizontal with its wings level.
4. The orientation keeps the vehicle as high 1,650C (3,000F) on the leading edges of the wings and nose.
5. As its speed drops, the shuttle starts to fly more like an aircraft, using its rudder and wing flaps for control. It banks sharply to slow its speed still further 
6. The shuttle falls from a height of more than 360km at speeds that top Mach 30, and at an angle of 19 degrees, far steeper than that of a commercial aircraft. The spacecraft comes to a dead stop half a world a way from where it began the descent.
7. Landing. 

posted by: kyawoo at 01:29 | link | comments (1) |
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About Shuttle landing

After resupplying the space station and testing the cameras and sensors that let NASA truly measure the extent of launch debris for the first time - Discovery is scheduled to glide to the ground as early as 4:46 a.m. Eastern time Monday at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Beyond that, it has been a mission with high and low points. Discovery’s external tank shed so much less debris than earlier ones that the shuttle had just 25 scars on its tiles, one-sixth of the usual amount. But the largest chunk of foam, at 0.9 pounds, was more than enough to cause another catastrophe if it had fallen at an earlier point in the ascent and hit the vehicle.

If the weather does not bode well for landing in Florida on Monday, NASA managers will consider two additional landing sites for Tuesday - Edwards Air Force Base in California or the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The strong preference is for a Florida landing, however, since the shuttle does not need to be ferried to Florida.

posted by: kyawoo at 08:14 | link | comments |
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Shuttle heading home

Astronauts on the shuttle Discovery have undocked their craft from the International Space Station, in the first step towards returning home.

After unhitching, the shuttle orbited the space station to take photographs from all angles and check for damage.

The shuttle will continue to orbit the Earth, NASA said, until it lands Monday at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

posted by: kyawoo at 11:05 | link | comments (1) |
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Shuttle coming back

Astronauts on the shuttle Discovery got ready to leave the International Space Station.

Before that, Discovery’s astronauts lowered a huge container filled with a two-and-a-half-year backlog of space station trash and old broken equipment into the shuttle on Friday for return to Earth next week. The contents of the cargo container, which was slowly anchored into the shuttle’s payload bay by a robot arm, will either be junked once it’s back on Earth or returned to engineers for analysis. The amount of trash being removed was larger than usual because of the long gap between shuttle flights following the Columbia disaster.

Friday’s activity came a day after Nasa gave the all-clear for Discovery to return to Earth, concluding that there was no need to send the astronauts out on another spacewalk to repair a torn thermal blanket near a cockpit window..

When the shuttle undocks with the ISS, it will fly around the space station, taking pictures from every angle.

The shuttle is expected to land early on Monday morning at Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral. The touchdown time, weather permitting, has been set for 0846 GMT.

In a shuttle program first, it has been repaired by Steve Robinson and Japanese crew member Soichi Noguchi during one of their three spacewalks. The men removed two loose cloth strips, which were protruding from the shuttle’s belly.

Discovery’s visit to the International Space Station (ISS) may be the last shuttle mission for some time. Nasa has grounded the fleet until it fixes the flying debris problem, which destroyed Columbia and resurfaced at Discovery’s launch on 26 July.

posted by: kyawoo at 19:56 | link | comments |
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Environmental damage as seen from Shuttle

Commander Eileen Collins described on Thursday how widespread environmental destruction on Earth could be seen from the shuttle.

"Sometimes you can see how there is erosion, and you can see how there is deforestation," Commander Collins said. "It’s very widespread in some parts of the world. We would like to see, from the astronauts’ point of view, people take good care of the Earth and replace the resources that have been used." "The atmosphere almost looks like an eggshell on an egg, it’s so very thin," she said. "We know that we don’t have much air - we need to protect what we have."

posted by: kyawoo at 00:18 | link | comments |
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Shuttle repair not necessary

Nasa told the seven crew members the shuttle would be safe for re-entry, due on Monday, despite the torn blanket below the cockpit window.

On Wednesday, astronauts removed protruding material from the orbiter’s underside which was threatening the heatshield’s integrity.

Discovery is currently linked with the International Space Station, orbiting 352km (220 miles) above the Earth.

posted by: kyawoo at 00:17 | link | comments |
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