Xref: utzoo sci.space.shuttle:7824 rec.aviation:36175
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!euclid.jpl.nasa.gov!pjs
From: pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov (Peter Scott)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle,rec.aviation
Subject: Re: Now THAT'S speed!
Message-ID: <1991May12.182355.13384@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov>
Date: 12 May 91 18:23:55 GMT
References: <72189@microsoft.UUCP>
Sender: news@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov (Usenet)
Reply-To: pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov
Organization: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA/Caltech
Lines: 22
Nntp-Posting-Host: euclid.jpl.nasa.gov

In article <72189@microsoft.UUCP>, mikemr@microsoft.UUCP (Michael MRAZ) writes:
> I just listened to the de-orbit and landing of Discovery
> STS-39. The speed at which things happen during this
> phase of the flight really never hit me until I had the
> pleasure of hearing the whole sequence from de-orbit burn
> to touchdown. Unbelievable. What really drove home the point
> was when, about 30 minutes before touchdown, the NASA announcer
> said that Discovery was just crossing the Canadian border near
> Vancouver, BC. Then, less than 15 minutes later, "Discovery just
> crossed the Florida coast near Tallahassee, altitude 98,000 feet,
> velocity..." That must be one hell of a ride!

Yup.  I've watched landings from the observation room of the
SFOF (Space Flight Operations Facility) here, which covers them
if it has nothing better to do, and one of the displays carried
a map showing the shuttle ground track as a lengthening path.
Watching that line zip across the Pacific while they called off
the distance to threshold gave me the same reaction.

-- 
This is news.  This is your       |    Peter Scott, NASA/JPL/Caltech
brain on news.  Any questions?    |    (pjs@euclid.jpl.nasa.gov)