|
Author
|
Topic: STS-126 mission viewing and commentary
|
Leon Ford
Member Posts: 309
From: Shreveport, LA, United States
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 12-11-2008 01:41 PM
   
Got to watch STS-126 launch a few weeks ago and just watched Endeavour land at Barksdale AFB in Louisiana. Guess the circle is complete!Leon |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 12-11-2008 04:04 PM
Some photos from today's flyover of Johnson Space Center:
Having never seen a shuttle atop the 747, one of my long-time "must-dos", today was the best holiday gift a space geek could wish for and get! |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
|
posted 12-11-2008 04:54 PM
Robert-Hoefully you took an opportunity to see it with your own eyes instead of through the camera lens! Great pictures, but I can't tell you how many events like that I feel like I missed because I was trying to get great shots  |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 12-11-2008 05:35 PM
I wish I could say I had the good sense to purposely stop and watch it flyover, but the truth is, I didn't -- I was so gosh darn excited I several times forgot that I had a camera in my hands!  I am grateful for the few chances I had to watch Endeavour fly unobstructed by a lens. |
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 12-11-2008 06:00 PM
Robert your first photo is BEAUTIFUL! Thanks for sharing. Did she make it home today - I'm in Orlando and the threat of thunderstorms said the fight here might be delayed until tomorrow.gm |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 12-11-2008 06:05 PM
Thanks Gary! Here is another shot, taken seconds later after the first, with a similar but yet different effect.
As I also noted in the mission thread, Endeavour will spend the night in Louisiana. |
irish guy
Member Posts: 287
From: Kerry Ireland
Registered: Dec 2001
|
posted 12-12-2008 07:52 AM
Robert, thank you for posting those magnificent pictures. What camera and lens were you using? With a awful lot of luck myself and Siobhan may see the SCA arrive in Brevard, we arrive there Saturday for a stay until the 21st. |
Ben
Member Posts: 1896
From: Cape Canaveral, FL
Registered: May 2000
|
posted 12-12-2008 09:44 PM
  More photos at LaunchPhotography.com. |
328KF
Member Posts: 1234
From:
Registered: Apr 2008
|
posted 12-12-2008 09:45 PM
I saw the flyby at KSC and I wonder what the risk vs. reward is of performing such a maneuver with with this billion dollar national asset.The 747-200 has a wingspan of 195 ft, and using one of the NASA photos, I measured this out to gauge how high off the runway they were...roughly 100 ft. Flying this large combination of aircraft at 100 ft AGL seems a bit flamboyant to me, and imagine the implications if the old bird was to suffer an engine failure at this point. Now these guys are very highly-qualified pilots and I am certain that they talk about these kinds of things prior to execution. Nothing against them...it's the agency that condones the practice. One has to ask, what is the climb performance at their landing weight in the event of an engine failure? What about multiple engine failures? It would be a monumental tragedy if we lost an orbiter on a ferry flight. I did not see a video of the fly-by, but I would assume that it was quite speedy...one way to cover yourself in such an emergency. It just seems to me that at this point in the program, and with only 3 orbiters left, the job of the SCA is to deliver the space shuttle from point A to point B safely, not to do low level fly-bys to get pretty pictures taken. |
capoetc
Member Posts: 2169
From: McKinney TX (USA)
Registered: Aug 2005
|
posted 12-12-2008 09:58 PM
The engines develop just under 55,000# of thrust each at sea level. It'll fly just fine on 3 engines. It's more than capable of a safe recovery on two engines. It's a very, very low risk maneuver. ------------------
John Capobianco
Camden DE |
AFGAS
Member Posts: 89
From: Merritt Island, FL
Registered: Feb 2008
|
posted 12-14-2008 09:59 PM
I posted a picture of the SCA/Endeavour's flyby of the KSC rocket garden at the Field Guide. It is still an awesome sight. When you see it launch there is all the fire and noise to make it go, and landing it is falling like a rock, but this is pure poetry of flight! |
Rob Joyner
Member Posts: 1308
From: GA, USA
Registered: Jan 2004
|
posted 12-15-2008 02:49 PM
Great shot Jim! |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
|
posted 12-15-2008 10:14 PM
Anyone else notice that it was NASA 911 that flew this ferry flight? At last check, 905 was doing the flights while 911 was sitting in flyable storage at the Evergreen facility in Arizona. Nice to see 911 back in the air, but I am wondering what is going on with NASA 905 now since based on what I've read, NASA 905 was to do all the ferry flights until shuttle fleet retirement. |
thump
Member Posts: 575
From: washington dc usa
Registered: May 2004
|
posted 12-17-2008 02:03 PM
Pretty cool image of the day from NASA.gov... |
Mike Z
Member Posts: 451
From: Ellicott City, Maryland
Registered: Dec 2005
|
posted 01-05-2009 12:05 PM
Does anyone know if there will be an STS-126 Crew Presentation? If so when will NASA TV be broadcasting it?It's great seeing the mission highlights and hearing the crew's comments about the mission!! Thanks!
Mike Z |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 01-05-2009 12:27 PM
Though not yet officially announced by NASA, we received word that the post-flight presentation at Space Center Houston has been scheduled for January 8.These presentations are usually not aired on NASA TV, although highlights sometime appear in This Week @ NASA. Should the crew deliver a similar presentation at NASA Headquarters while they are in Washington, DC for the inaugural parade -- which I am told today is in the works but no date has been set -- then it will air on NASA TV. |
MCroft04
Member Posts: 1634
From: Smithfield, Me, USA
Registered: Mar 2005
|
posted 01-06-2009 01:09 PM
My wife and I attended the talk by Steve Bowen at Maine Central Institute (MCI) this morning. Great talk, mostly geared towards the high school students. A few take-aways; he drives a 12 year old Ford Escort (I guess if you send your child to MCI then you can't afford the Vette), he plans to "be around" to see what the next lunar module ends up looking like, and John Young may be retired but hardly a week goes by that he doesn't stop by the NASA office. When asked if he has plans to walk on the moon (assuming Project Constellation moves forward on schedule), he just said "we'll see". |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 01-06-2009 05:27 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Should the crew deliver a similar presentation at NASA Headquarters... then it will air on NASA TV.
They are, and it will be: January 22, 10:00 a.m. EST, per the NASA TV schedule. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 01-13-2009 11:24 PM
NASA release Shuttle Crew to Visit NASA HeadquartersNASA Headquarters will welcome the astronauts of the STS-126 space shuttle mission on Thursday, Jan. 22, at 10 a.m. EST. The crew completed a 16-day flight on Nov. 30 and delivered equipment to the International Space Station that will allow the outpost to house up to six astronauts for long-duration stays. The astronauts will share the mission's highlights with NASA employees, their families and journalists at NASA Headquarters' James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium, 300 E. Street, S.W., in Washington. The crew's presentation will air live on NASA Television's public and education channels. On Jan. 20, the crew will walk in the 56th Inaugural Parade. On Jan. 21, the astronauts will meet with lawmakers on Capitol Hill and attend a reception at the Embassy of Ukraine. Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper is of Ukrainian descent. In addition to Stefanyshyn-Piper, the STS-126 crew members are Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Eric Boe and Mission Specialists Donald Pettit, Steve Bowen, Shane Kimbrough and Greg Chamitoff. As Expedition 18 flight engineer, Chamitoff spent more than five months living aboard the space station. Soon after leaving Washington, the astronauts will begin an overseas trip to visit U.S. troops in Qatar, Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan and at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany. This is the first such trip for U.S. astronauts. Five members of the STS-126 crew have military backgrounds, and the astronauts want to personally thank the troops for their service. |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3161
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 02-05-2009 11:22 AM
An article on watching the launch by Chris Jones. |
advertisement