General Discussion > Q&A Section
Shuttle Questions Q & A (Part 3)
rfoshaug:
It is what the name suggests: the shuttle flies around the station.
After undocking, the shuttle first went to a point about 600 feet in front of the station. Then it slowly (and beautifully) did a complete 360° "loop" around the station, keeping its distance at about 600 feet, and keeping the top of the shuttle constantly pointing toward the station. This allowed the crew of Atlantis to photograph the station from all angles and document how it looks, help search for any damages etc.
After the flyaround, when the shuttle was back in its position in front of the docking port, it continued for another 90° to the "top" of the station and then flew away from it.
rsp1202:
It also provides the pilot some stick time, since theoretically he will later command his own mission.
iphitus:
What would happen if the shuttle happened to just miss a landing attempt, say arrive off the side of the SLF? Has it got enough energy to go-around? Or is the SLF long enough that it'd be able to correct itself?
psloss:
--- Quote ---iphitus - 20/6/2007 9:19 AM
What would happen if the shuttle happened to just miss a landing attempt, say arrive off the side of the SLF? Has it got enough energy to go-around? Or is the SLF long enough that it'd be able to correct itself?
--- End quote ---
It cannot go around -- if they miss the SLF runway, you're talking about a really bad day.
This was noted earlier in the thread -- read through this exchange about coming up short of the runway on STS-37 and Danny Dot's Usenet post that he links to:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=6156&start=331#M143930
pkspx:
I don't know if this was ever asked before, but can someone define the sounds of when the shuttle is landing. It sounds like a jet airplane coming in. I would have thought this "Glider" would be silent as a bird coming in.
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