LIVE: STS-124 Flight Day 15 (EOM) - Deobit, Re-Entry and Landing

[Ford Mustang]

And that's a wrap!

NASA TV back to regularly scheduled programming!

[ichilton]

Hi,

Thanks for the great coverage guys!

Will John44 have the post-landing coverage with Chris Hasselbring and the crew walkaround/speech?

I was out and missed it - I only got the landing coverage from this forum on my phone!

Thanks

Ian

[Ford Mustang]

Hi,

Thanks for the great coverage guys!

Will John44 have the post-landing coverage with Chris Hasselbring and the crew walkaround/speech?

I was out and missed it - I only got the landing coverage from this forum on my phone!

Thanks

Ian

If he doesn't, I'll have a copy for Monday morning. 

[nathan.moeller]

View from Playalinda was one of the best views of an approach we've had.

For the most part, the camera positions are the same.  What changes are the approach/flight path, the lighting, and the sky conditions...the latter two were nice today, but there are more cameras in the Complex 39 and KSC Industrial areas which are all south of the SLF.  Most of the approaches to the south / Runway 33 end of the runway provide more up-close views of the orbiter rolling out on final than for Runway 15.

The lighting was what I was referring to.  I know the positions don't change.  Personally, I prefer Runway 33 landings for closeups of touchdown, but 15 approaches give better shots.

[markus3067]

THANK YOU to everybody for a great coverage, even with the time zone changes in Australia..

[C5C6]

I've waited for this mission since I started to enter this amazing world of spaceflight back on July 2006 with STS-121......watching all this coverage in pictures, videos, comments I'm thinking to myself "what am I doing here in Argentina? that's the place where I belong!!!"......

As many have said, such a beautiful mission from beginning to end, looking forward for 125 now....see you back in action in December Discovery!!!!!!!

[Stowbridge]

see you back in action in December Discovery!!!!!!!

You need to read the news site.

http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5450

"Discovery's Next Mission - STS-119:

Once Discovery arrives back in her OPF, she will be processed for STS-119, currently scheduled in milestone charts for February 12, 2009. "

[jeff2space]

Sorry if I missed this discussion somewhere but I just saw the video of today's landing and when the drag chute deployed I noticed something white shoot across the runway on the starboard side of the orbiter (almost looked like a piece of white tile).  Does anyone know what that was and if it's nominal?

[jmjawors]

The chute deploy is an explosive event, literally.  Someone else more knowledgeable than I am could go more into detail, but suffice it to say that there's a piece or two that comes off the orbiter as a result of this (not tile), and it is how the system is designed. 

This is from the aft, though, not starboard.  The angle the landing video was taken from (viewing port and forward) could give the impression that it was from the starboard side, but it was in fact from the rear.

[LSainsbury]

Is there a hi quality video of the landing anywhere please?

Also - I think I read in this thread that the APU's were quite load due to microphone placement on / near the runway - anybody got an audio clip of that and them shutting down?

[Andrewwski]

Is there a hi quality video of the landing anywhere please?

Also - I think I read in this thread that the APU's were quite load due to microphone placement on / near the runway - anybody got an audio clip of that and them shutting down?

I'll have a high-res landing video on L2 later tonight (1200k).

[LSainsbury]

Is there a hi quality video of the landing anywhere please?

Also - I think I read in this thread that the APU's were quite load due to microphone placement on / near the runway - anybody got an audio clip of that and them shutting down?

I'll have a high-res landing video on L2 later tonight (1200k).

Nice one.

I was viewing the 1200Kbps steam and it then started to break up about 4mins before landing and I could not get back into it, so I had to resort to the 300Kbps stream...

[Andrewwski]

Landing and replays now on L2.

[Chris Bergin]

A fun/interesting fact on the post landing memos heading into L2 (will write them up), is that Discovery's RH MGTD skids were nearly on top of the STS-123 RH MGTD skids!

Someone in the astronaut office might of won a bet there

[ichilton]

If he doesn't, I'll have a copy for Monday morning. 

Hi Ford

Looks like he didn't get the post-landing coverage with Chris Hasselbring and the crew walkaround/speech - do you have it?

Thanks

Ian

[collectSPACE]

Astronauts Return Home to Houston After 'Amazing, Exciting' Flight
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-061608a.html

"Exciting." "Incredible." "Phenomenal." "Amazing." Such were the words chosen by the STS-124 crew to describe their mission to the International Space Station, where they delivered the Japanese Kibo module, the largest science laboratory to be added to the outpost, before returning to Earth Saturday and home to Houston on Sunday. The seven astronauts shared their incredible and amazing experiences with a crowd of several hundred friends, colleagues, family members and the public who gathered to celebrate their homecoming at Ellington Field.

[Chris Bergin]

Astronauts Return Home to Houston After 'Amazing, Exciting' Flight
http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-061608a.html

I liked's Ham's description of ascent! Did they have any specific praise for Discovery's performance during the mission? (I'm predictable, I know )

[Ford Mustang]

If he doesn't, I'll have a copy for Monday morning. 

Hi Ford

Looks like he didn't get the post-landing coverage with Chris Hasselbring and the crew walkaround/speech - do you have it?

Thanks

Ian

I have received a copy, yes.  Uploading now, will be a few hours (only get 45kb/s here, and it's 500mb).

[collectSPACE]

Did they have any specific praise for Discovery performance during the mission? (I'm predictable, I know )

Not so much about Discovery specifically, but about the mission in general, from Mark Kelly: 

I heard on flight day eight, I think it was flight day eight, from the FAO office that we could have flown the flight plan that we had two months ago. And that's a little bit unusual. It is so unusual that we actually fly the first three days of the flight plan on any shuttle flight because usually by day four or five, it has already changed so much that there is no point in having the old one on-board. But fortunately for us, we could have had the old one and flown it just like we had planned ahead of time.

That has, I think, a lot to do with the folks sitting to my left. They are a very talented group of people, every one of them. And they worked really, really hard from the second they went up until the second they went to sleep at night. But having said that, I think what has really made this mission successful, more so than the crew, are the people on the ground.

[Ford Mustang]

If he doesn't, I'll have a copy for Monday morning. 

Hi Ford

Looks like he didn't get the post-landing coverage with Chris Hasselbring and the crew walkaround/speech - do you have it?

Thanks

Ian

Now uploaded:

Click Here to go to the "STS-124 Mission Videos: Interviews, Press Conferences etc" thread