Author Topic: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)  (Read 145691 times)

Offline SFC Don

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #460 on: 06/09/2009 12:10 pm »
FlightAware -- SCA going home:

Your tracked aircraft NASA911 has just filed a flight plan.  It is scheduled to depart KEFD (Ellington Field) at 08:10 CDT heading for KEDW (Edwards Afb) for an arrival at 10:13 PDT.

Expected route: IDU3 JCT EWM J4 PKE DAG



Offline MarsMethanogen

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #461 on: 06/09/2009 05:03 pm »
SCA headed back home... http://flightaware.com/live/flight/NASA911

Well, its first stop is Ellington Field right now, but the eventual destination is probably Edwards

Right - they can't make that flight nonstop.

I was going to ask about that. Presumably, the SCA can fly much higher and faster without the beast on its back, or do the various modifications to the plane mean that it still has to operate under tighter constraints than a normal 747?
NASA Dryden Fact Sheet indicates that they could.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html

With Orbiter: Range = 1000 nautical miles; Ceiling = 13 - 15,000 feet
Without Orbiter:  Range = 5500 nautical miles; Ceiling = 24 - 26,000 feet

So they must have had reasons other than flight performance to make a stop at Ellington on their way back to Edwards.

Offline SFC Don

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #462 on: 06/10/2009 02:54 am »
NASA Dryden Fact Sheet indicates that they could.

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/FactSheets/FS-013-DFRC.html

With Orbiter: Range = 1000 nautical miles; Ceiling = 13 - 15,000 feet
Without Orbiter:  Range = 5500 nautical miles; Ceiling = 24 - 26,000 feet

So they must have had reasons other than flight performance to make a stop at Ellington on their way back to Edwards.
I suppose I could just Google this myself and make a more definitive statement, but I'm sure there's some experts around here who could chip in on this.

Isn't Ellington reasonably close to Houston?  Seems to me that it wouldn't be a bad place to stop if there were folks who needed a hop from KSC to JSC.

Offline K466

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #463 on: 06/11/2009 02:56 pm »
With a bit of planning and luck, I managed to overfly the DFRC Saturday morning and managed to get some shots of the tailcone installation work.  Know anyone down there? :)

Wow shuttlefanatic, I have never seen photos like this. They are spectacular! How on earth were you able to do this, I would think this would have been restricted airspace?
""There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil, to one who is striking at the root."" ~Henry David Thoreau

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #464 on: 06/11/2009 09:16 pm »
Hubble hardware back in the PHSF?

Edit:  Hleps to have the right channel!
« Last Edit: 06/11/2009 09:52 pm by Ronsmytheiii »

Offline Chris Bergin

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Offline psloss

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Offline K466

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #467 on: 06/12/2009 02:35 pm »
You've GOT to read this!

http://infinite-frontier.blogspot.com/2009/06/nasa-747-pilot-shares-experience.html

Wow, that was a fantastic read, I'll have to share it with my friends ;D
""There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil, to one who is striking at the root."" ~Henry David Thoreau

Offline Ford Mustang

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #468 on: 06/12/2009 05:01 pm »
Everyone who is a Shuttle lover HAS to read that.  Best thing I've read in a long time.

Offline Lawntonlookirs

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #469 on: 06/12/2009 05:20 pm »
Great interesting article.  The only thing strange about it is that it sounds like it was his first flight with the shuttle.
Everyman is my superior in that I may learn from him.  Albert Einstein

Online rdale

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #470 on: 06/12/2009 05:27 pm »
Doesn't seem strange - seems like you read this line:

"My mind could not get over, from this point on, that this was something I had never experienced."

If he never experienced it before, it likely was his first time!

Offline Lawntonlookirs

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #471 on: 06/12/2009 05:41 pm »
Doesn't seem strange - seems like you read this line:

"My mind could not get over, from this point on, that this was something I had never experienced."

If he never experienced it before, it likely was his first time!

That is exactly what I mean.  Doesn't it sound strange that they would have someone fly a SCA with the shuttle on it without any previous flight knowledge.  I would at least think he would have had to be a copilot on a few flights before he flew it.
Everyman is my superior in that I may learn from him.  Albert Einstein

Offline cb6785

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #472 on: 06/12/2009 06:23 pm »
Doesn't seem strange - seems like you read this line:

"My mind could not get over, from this point on, that this was something I had never experienced."

If he never experienced it before, it likely was his first time!

That is exactly what I mean.  Doesn't it sound strange that they would have someone fly a SCA with the shuttle on it without any previous flight knowledge.  I would at least think he would have had to be a copilot on a few flights before he flew it.

Well he must have at least the proper type-rating and enough hours in flight to be pilot in command, don't know what NASAs rules are, but in airline aviation (at least where I am flying) you've got to have at least 5.000 hours in flight in the book prior to beeing certified as captain.

But yes, it is strange that his first flight with an orbiter attached is in the left seat...would have thought you would need at least one or two flights with the SCA as a first officer (plus what I mentioned above of cause).

Lucky guy so, would do anything to be in his place. ;) The 747 is my favorite airliner and flying the SCA would be my greatest day. :)
« Last Edit: 06/12/2009 06:24 pm by cb6785 »
You know, if I’d had a seat you wouldn’t still see me in this thing. - Chuck Yeager

Offline SFC Don

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #473 on: 06/13/2009 09:31 pm »
Hey everyone...

To make up for the Endeavor post-scrub blues, I put a bunch more Atlantis pics up on my L2 thread:
STS-125 Post Flight: SCA Ferry (Biggs Army Air Field/Fort Bliss -- El Paso, TX)
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=17318.0

There are some really nice pics of the SCA/Orbiter at dawn that not too many of you with L2 access have clicked thru yet, so feel free to stop by and take a look.  And for those of you who don't have L2 access yet, I'll put in a big plug for it -- definitely worth it, get over there already!

Here's a few other samples, taken by a friend of mine.

« Last Edit: 06/13/2009 09:37 pm by SFC Don »

Offline Aobrien

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #474 on: 06/14/2009 03:35 pm »
Post flight payload processing for the SLIC.
NSF L2=The Ultimate Space Passport

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #475 on: 06/18/2009 12:41 pm »
WFPC-2 is now visible:


Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #476 on: 06/18/2009 01:36 pm »

Offline eeergo

Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #477 on: 06/18/2009 08:48 pm »


That was in space a few weeks ago... and had been there for years! Thanks for the screencaps, I personally love to see things return from space.
-DaviD-

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #478 on: 06/19/2009 01:43 pm »

Offline johng

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Re: STS-125: Post Flight Coverage (Dryden, Ferry, KSC)
« Reply #479 on: 07/15/2009 11:23 am »
You've GOT to read this!

http://infinite-frontier.blogspot.com/2009/06/nasa-747-pilot-shares-experience.html

A friend e-mailed me this, and I came here to share.  I was at the SLF can vouch that the account of the approach and landing is accurate, but have doubts about a couple things:

A) NASA does not fly the SCA from zero margin runways. If the SCA had barely gotten off the ground somewhere, we'd have heard of it.

B) The ga-ga attitude of the author is almost completely free of "the right stuff".  THe guys who fly this thing are super-experienced full time pilots. 

There was a guy named Jack Nickel (re: e-mail handle "Triple Nickel") on the crew so I guess its possibly real, but maybe a bit of hangar-talk pumped up by public affairs.

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