Author Topic: Landing track  (Read 9481 times)

Offline astrobrian

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Landing track
« on: 07/14/2006 12:54 am »
Not sure if I missed it elsewhere on here as a search revealed nothing. I was looking for the primary and secondary landing tracks for STS-121 for mondays attempt.  

Online DaveS

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #1 on: 07/14/2006 01:13 am »
They're usually not available until about 24(?) hours before landing. So keep an eye out for them on Sunday.
"For Sardines, space is no problem!"
-1996 Astronaut class slogan

"We're rolling in the wrong direction but for the right reasons"
-USA engineer about the rollback of Discovery prior to the STS-114 Return To Flight mission

Offline astrobrian

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #2 on: 07/14/2006 01:24 am »
I was always under the impression it was sooner than that. Thanks Dave

Offline psloss

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #3 on: 07/14/2006 01:28 am »
Well, it's been a week and a half without looking at weather forecasts, but we'll probably be looking at those again this weekend and Monday morning...SMG has showers within 30 nmi of the SLF in the forecast for tomorrow and Saturday...


Offline sts1canada

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #4 on: 07/14/2006 01:31 am »
They have not been posted yet, they should be posted around the same time of Sunday's (July 16th) Mission Status Briefing (around 11 AM CDT, 12 PM EDT, 4 PM GMT) which should have a briefing with the entry flight director Steve Stich, to explain the entry options for KSC and EAFB. I have used a satellite tracking program like STSPLUS (a DOS program) to estimate the tracking time and groundtrack of STS-121 at orbit 202 to look at its first groundtrack to KSC and it shows that the shuttle will descend northeast over Central America and then over Cuba as she approaches KSC. For the second de-orbit opportunity on orbit 203, the shuttle will descend to the northeast over central Mexico and then turn to the east along the Texas Gulf Coast to over central Florida to KSC. These groundtracks are just estimates at this time and they will change slightly when the shuttle undocks and changes its orbit attitude slightly (with a few orbital adjust burns as entry day approaches).  Hope this estimate helps you until NASA releases the official groundtracks.

Richard

Offline astrobrian

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #5 on: 07/14/2006 04:00 am »
Is STSPLUS Available to download?

Offline rdale

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #6 on: 07/14/2006 07:11 am »
Very first response to "STSPLUS" at http://google.com

Offline astrobrian

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #7 on: 07/14/2006 11:54 am »
I think a duh is in order :) , never even thought it would be found via google lol

Offline psloss

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #8 on: 07/15/2006 04:20 pm »

Offline seminole AJ

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Re: Landing track
« Reply #9 on: 07/15/2006 05:20 pm »
looking positive if you want to hear it over south florida...maybe if it gets held off a few more orbits, I might hear/see it in tally
GO NOLES!!!

Offline AzBill

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RE: Landing track
« Reply #10 on: 07/15/2006 05:57 pm »
What factors go in to picking which orbit to land on?  In looking at the closer views of the ground track, it looks like they steer around Tampa/St. Pete.  Is the legacy of Columbia and the (hopefully remote) potential for debris considered at all in the planning for de-orbit?

--Bill

Offline hyper_snyper

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RE: Landing track
« Reply #11 on: 07/15/2006 06:13 pm »
Quote
AzBill - 15/7/2006  1:44 PM

What factors go in to picking which orbit to land on?  In looking at the closer views of the ground track, it looks like they steer around Tampa/St. Pete.  Is the legacy of Columbia and the (hopefully remote) potential for debris considered at all in the planning for de-orbit?

--Bill

They perform some steep s-turns late in the entry to bleed off speed before landing.  Whether they are purposefully aiming away from populated areas I don't know.

Offline AzBill

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RE: Landing track
« Reply #12 on: 07/15/2006 06:31 pm »
Quote
hyper_snyper - 15/7/2006  11:00 AM

Quote
AzBill - 15/7/2006  1:44 PM

What factors go in to picking which orbit to land on?  In looking at the closer views of the ground track, it looks like they steer around Tampa/St. Pete.  Is the legacy of Columbia and the (hopefully remote) potential for debris considered at all in the planning for de-orbit?

--Bill

They perform some steep s-turns late in the entry to bleed off speed before landing.  Whether they are purposefully aiming away from populated areas I don't know.

Take a look at the mid-range landing track posted here:

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/152372main_KSC203_mid2.gif

I do not live in Florida, but did consult a map.  I'd love to hear from one of the experts on this one.  To my eye, this looks more like a course correction than a series of "S" turns.

--Bill

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