







Shuttle to streak across America during re-entry

BY WILLIAM HARWOOD

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION

Posted: April 18, 2010



The Discovery astronauts tested the shuttle's re-entry systems Sunday and packed up for landing Monday at the Kennedy Space Center, weather permitting, to close out a space station resupply mission with a fiery dawn plunge across the heartland of America.

This is the ground track for Discovery's first landing opportunity on Monday leading to an 8:48 a.m. EDT touchdown. Credit: NASA



Commander Alan Poindexter and pilot James Dutton plan to fire Discovery's braking rockets for three minutes and 11 seconds starting at 7:43:20 a.m. EDT Monday, slowing the ship by about 217 mph and setting up a landing on runway 15 at the Florida spaceport at 8:48:36 a.m. A second opportunity is available one orbit later at 10:23:30 a.m. There are no technical issues of any significance with the space shuttle, but forecasters are predicting an overcast sky with a broken deck of clouds at 8,000 feet and a chance for rain showers within 30 nautical miles of the runway. Conditions are expected to improve slightly on Tuesday, but good weather is expected both days at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., NASA's backup landing site. NASA is not staffing Edwards Monday and if the weather prevents a Florida landing, Discovery's flight will be extended another day and the crew will try again Tuesday. In that case, Edwards would be staffed and available. "It's always a great time to spend (an extra day) on orbit," Poindexter told a reporter earlier Sunday. "We're confident the folks in Houston and the folks in Florida will do everything they can to get us home when the weather will allow it." Entry flight director Bryan Lunney said Discovery has enough on-board supplies to remain in orbit until Wednesday at the latest. But NASA holds the final day in reserve to handle technical problems, so if Discovery doesn't get down Monday, Lunney will attempt to bring the crew home, on one coast or the other, Tuesday. "We'll see what happens overnight," he said. "If it violates our flight rules and it's not a good day to go land, then we'll wave off until Tuesday."

This is the ground track for Discovery's second landing opportunity on Monday leading to a 10:23 a.m. EDT touchdown. Credit: NASA



If the Florida weather cooperates Monday or Tuesday, it likely will be the last chance for viewers in the continental United States to witness the fiery streak of a shuttle re-entry. In the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, NASA has favored southwest-to-northeast entry trajectories that carry the shuttle above the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean, avoiding seasonal, potentially dangerous noctilucent clouds in the northern hemisphere. The favored trajectories also require less propellant and, while not a requirement, keep descending shuttles well away from any densely populated areas in the United States. Discovery's return is the second so-called "descending node" entry since 2003. NASA managers ordered the change of plans to give the astronauts more time to complete the station resupply mission and to bring in a daylight landing opportunity at the end of a long flight. The high, icy clouds that can be a concern are not an issue at this time of year. "The neat thing about the descending opportunities is it's going to come across the country and folks will get a good opportunity, hopefully, to see the orbiter as it goes overhead," Lunney said. Assuming an on-time descent, Discovery will plunge back into the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of about 76 miles above the central Pacific Ocean south of the Aleutian Islands at 8:17 a.m., crossing the western Canadian coast "just above where the Winter Olympics were," Lunney said. "The vehicle will be about (43 miles up) at that point, traveling at a speed of about Mach 23, moving very fast, very high," Lunney said. "We took a quick look at the weather forecast and we think the western side of the United States will be relatively clear. So hopefully folks there will get a view. The eastern side might be a little bit more cloudy, so hopefully you'll get a hole and you can see it through the clouds." With the shuttle surrounded by superheated plasma as atmospheric friction reduces its 5-mile-per-second orbital velocity, viewers in the west will see a "streak of white light way up high," Lunney said. "When it's down lower, it's going to be more the glowing cloud plowing through. I think both will be clearly visible if the clouds allow it to be." Here are timeline overviews for both Florida landing opportunities Monday (in EDT; best viewed with fixed-width font): Rev. 222 Deorbit to KSC EDT...........EVENT 03:43 AM......Begin deorbit timeline 03:58 AM......Radiator stow 04:08 AM......Mission specialists seat installation 04:14 AM......Computers set for deorbit prep 04:18 AM......Hydraulic system configuration 04:43 AM......Flash evaporator checkout 04:49 AM......Final payload deactivation 05:03 AM......Payload bay doors closed 05:13 AM......Mission control 'go' for OPS-3 entry software load 05:23 AM......OPS-3 transition 05:48 AM......Entry switch list verification 05:58 AM......Deorbit maneuver update 06:03 AM......Crew entry review 06:18 AM......Commander, pilot don entry suits 06:35 AM......IMU alignment 06:43 AM......CDR/PLT strap in; other crew dons suits 07:00 AM......Shuttle steering check 07:03 AM......Hydraulic system prestart 07:10 AM......Toilet deactivation 07:23 AM......Mission control 'go' for deorbit burn 07:29 AM......Astronaut seat ingress 07:38 AM......Single APU start 07:43:20 AM...Deorbit ignition 07:46:31 AM...Deorbit burn complete 08:16:59 AM...Entry interface 08:22:15 AM...1st roll command to left 08:35:13 AM...1st roll left to right 08:35:36 AM...C-band radar acquisition 08:44:55 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 08:46:56 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 08:47:03 AM...339-degree left turn to runway 15 08:48:36 AM...Landing Rev. 223 Deorbit to KSC 08:57 AM......MCC 'go' for deorbit burn 09:03 AM......MS seat ingress 09:12 AM......Single APU start 09:17:48 AM...Deorbit ignition 09:17:55 AM...Deorbit burn complete 09:51:56 AM...Entry interface 09:57:18 AM...1st roll command to left 10:12:47 AM...1st left -to-right roll reversal 10:10:30 AM...C-band radar acquisition 10:20:00 AM...Velocity less than mach 2.5 10:22:02 AM...Velocity less than mach 1 10:22:07 AM...274-degree left turn to runway 15 10:23:30 AM...Landing If the Discovery is not able to land Monday, the astronauts have multiple opportunities at the Kennedy Space Center and Edwards Air Force Base through Wednesday (all in EDT): ORBIT...SITE..TIG...........LANDING 04/19: 222.....KSC...07:43:20 AM...08:48:36 AM 223.....KSC...09:17:48 AM...10:23:30 AM 04/20: 237.....KSC...06:31:00 AM...07:33:00 AM 238.....EDW...07:59:00 AM...09:00:00 AM ........KSC...08:07:00 AM...09:08:00 AM 239.....EDW...09:34:00 AM...10:36:00 AM 240.....EDW...11:09:00 AM...12:11:00 AM 04/21: 253.....KSC...06:52:00 AM...07:53:00 AM 254.....EDW...08:19:00 AM...09:21:00 AM ........NOR...08:21:00 AM...09:23:00 AM ........KSC...08:27:00 AM...09:28:00 AM 255.....EDW...09:54:00 AM...10:56:00 AM ........NOR...09:56:00 AM...10:58:00 AM

Additional coverage for subscribers:

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