-
#340
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:05
-
PAO:
Range now 14.4 nautical miles, altitude 25,000 feet, descending at 250 feet per second…
-
#341
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:08
-
PAO:
Atlantis currently in a 36-degree right bank as she turns around the Heading Alignment Cone… Atlantis flying at a 7.1 degree angle of attack; that’s the pitch angle between the direction of the nose and the direction of travel through the air stream; roll angle now at 29 degrees. Range 8 nautical miles, altitude 14,000 feet. All systems performing well…
-
#342
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:11
-
Atlantis circled over the Florida marshes and scrub palmetto as if close kin to the myriad birds that call KSC home. But instead of heading for a roost on the bony limb of a dead tree, Atlantis was looking for the narrow, moat-edged SLF – the 15,000 feet of Runway 33. The runway itself is 300 feet wide and has a 1,000-foot safety overrun at each end.
PAO:
Atlantis rolling onto final; Flight Dynamics Officer reports on glide slope, on centerline. No change to winds at the surface, range 5.4 nautical miles, altitude 8,000 feet, descending at 174 feet per second…
-
#343
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:13
-
PAO:
Range three nautical miles, altitude 3,000 feet; Atlantis reaching for Runway 3-3. Standing by for preflare maneuver… preflare underway, taking some of the steepness out of the angle of descent to the runway… gear coming down… The shuttle gave the illusion of dropping like a rock towards the stunted palms before the runway threshold, then holding its glide like a surfer riding a wave as it neared the open mouth of the runway. The crew deployed the orbiter’s landing gear 15 seconds before touchdown while at an altitude of 200 feet and still 5,000 feet from the runway.
-
#344
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:14
-
-
#345
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:16
-
PAO:
Landing gear confirmed down and locked… final flare… and touchdown. We have main gear on deck; Covey derotating the nose… Nose gear touchdown… the crew of Atlantis brings their spacecraft to its point of origination to the Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility…
-
#346
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:16
-
-
#347
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:22
-
Atlantis landed at 215 miles per hour about 2,750 feet beyond the beginning of the SLF. At main gear touchdown, spurts of tire smoke hugged the runway like fog. Gently, Covey lowered the nose – the nose gear appeared to hold for an eternity before touching. In the low Florida sun, Atlantis threw a long shadow to her right as she rolled dead center on Runway 33. When she stopped after a rollout of 8,900 feet in 54 seconds, her nose wheel was pegged right on the centerline – perhaps an inch or two to the right of being perfectly centered, but with both nose tires planted on the white paint of the line.
-
#348
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:25
-
-
#349
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:26
-
PAO:
Atlantis rolling out on Runway 3-3… Entry/Landing CapCom Ken Bowersox welcoming the crew back to Earth with the words “Welcome home; that sure was a beautiful sight.” – Unofficial wheels stop was at 4:43 p.m. and 37 seconds… No change to post-landing procedures; crew given a go to begin post-landing activities per the timeline…
-
#350
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:30
-
-
#351
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:33
-
Dick Covey later said, “I had never landed the orbiter on the lakebed, but my two times as a pilot were on the lakebed, and the biggest difference is the deceleration tends to be a little quicker on the lakebed, just because of the makeup of the material. But the pilots wouldn’t say that it’s substantially different other than that. You’ve got more runway and more places to go sideways when you’re on the lakebed.”
-
#352
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:34
-
-
#353
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:36
-
-
#354
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:37
-
-
#355
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:37
-
-
#356
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:38
-
-
#357
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:40
-
-
#358
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:40
-
-
#359
by
Ares67
on 16 Dec, 2016 20:41
-