Shuttle comming down.

[Larry]

nasa.gov says they've made the de-orbit burn. Landing scheduled for 9:16 EDT.

(Meaning, I think, I should hear them about 9:05.)

[pez]

For those that want to watch.... http://www.channelking.com/

Go to Channel 11 - NASA....

Not the porn channels! :laugh:

[SkinsOrlando]

Just heard the sonic booms.

[@DCGoldPants]

I just watched it on the free video from MSNBC.com.

That was so cool. The camera from the pilots point of view was so rad. The angle they were coming in at was so sharp.

[Pete]

There down safely.................

They came right over our area again, with the glide path a few miles south of us. Got an extremely loud double sonic boom, with a few car alarms being set off. I made sure the dog was in the yard so she would stop barking quicker, being she get even more nuts when the windows rattle and runs around the house looking for what made the noise.

Edit: I've been on NASSA TV since 7:30 this morning listening to the chat between mission control and the shuttle right up to the landing. Very cool.

[Larry]

I couldn't hear it in Gainesville.

I'm NW of the Cape, and aparantly they came in from the SW.

[Pete]

Ya gotta do NASSA TV Larry, you can watch the track, and catch any changes before the media does. The path they took is in their top three choices for FL landings.

[Leonard Washington]

Just heard the sonic booms.

is it loud?

[SkinsOrlando]

is it loud?

It wasn't as loud as normal because they came in from a different angle then usual but it is rather loud, a rather quick boom, boom.

[stwasm]

Praise The Lord! Glad they made it home safely.

[Pete]

Next flight up is scheduled for next month.

[Art Monk Fan]

It's good to hear they've landed safely. My first though on reading the thread title, "Shuttle coming down," was not a happy one -- maybe "Shuttle landing" would have been better?

[SkinsOrlando]

Next flight up is scheduled for next month.

I'm looking forward to being there at launch.

[21KO]

Did anyone else see the video on NASATV of the boosters being jettisoned?

They had a camera attached to one booster and it broadcast from release to splashdown, angled down so you could see the ocean. Cool stuff.

[Larry]

(Although I keep remembering that, supposedly, NASA concluded that it would be both cheaper and more reliable if those SRBs were made in one piece, and made disposable.)

[HSW]

Probably get flammed for this....oh well...they need to just scrap that whole

program. The amount of money that they pour into that program just cannot

be justified anymore.

[PokerPacker]

i can't wait until the private sector really takes over space exploration. things will get cheap FAST.

[SkinsOrlando]

Probably get flammed for this....oh well...they need to just scrap that whole

program. The amount of money that they pour into that program just cannot

be justified anymore.

Which program? NASA or the shuttle? And why do you feel this way?

[HSW]

Which program? NASA or the shuttle? And why do you feel this way?

The shuttle and a lot of NASA. What are we getting for the billions of

dollars that we are spending? The shuttle goes up, they do a spacewalk,

resupply the space station, carry up some mostly lame experiments.

I would prefer that they put the money, focus, and brain power towards

solving some of the very real problems we have here on "earth".

The alternative fuel situation for one thing. Just think we need to

reprioritize some things.

[SkinsOrlando]

HSW, I understand your viewpoint but disgaree. The shuttle does conduct scientific experiments in space and while the results of those tests seem to have little to no results so far, it doesn't mean five years from now they won't become a huge scientific break. Exploration has always been an integral part of the US history. The unfortunate issue regarding exploration is that it may take years before a discovery is made. In regards to using NASA's budget to fix "earthly" problems, well, there's plenty of areas in gov't spending I would cut first before gutting NASA which IMO is an American Icon and source of pride. One area of course would be the foreign aid we give(I'm not going to get specific on this issue since, well that's off topic). That's my thought.

[ashburnskinsfan]

Praise The Lord! Glad they made it home safely.

Praise the engineers! :laugh:

[HSW]

HSW, I understand your viewpoint but disgaree. The shuttle does conduct scientific experiments in space and while the results of those tests seem to have little to no results so far, it doesn't mean five years from now they won't become a huge scientific break. Exploration has always been an integral part of this US history. The unfortunate issue regarding exploration is that it may take years before a discovery is made. In regards to using the NASA's budget to fix "earthly" problems, well, there's plenty of areas in gov't spending I would cut first before gutting NASA which IMO is an American Icon and source of pride. One area of course would be the foreign aid we give(I'm not going to get specific on this issue since, well that's off topic). That's my thought.

I hear you. NASA used to be a huge source of pride for our country.

It has slipped real bad. Most folks do not care anymore because

they realize that they are just doing the same thing over and over

again. A shuttle mission used to be huge...we would watch it in

school. Not just in the science dept...the whole school. Now it

barely rates a min or two on the news.

[mjah]

All of NASA's spaceflight operations, when added together, comprise about three quarters of one percent of the country's discretionary budget.

NASA as an entire entity, including non-space applications, uses 2% of the discretionary budget.

And that total budget number doesn't even count the absolutely massive non-discretionary stuff like Social Security, etc. So the real percentages of total spending are even smaller.

Things larger than all of NASA's space flight operations put together:

- Missile defense (150% the size)

- IRS (170% the size)

- Border security (270% the size)

Talk about your largely ineffectual larger targets.

The Space Shuttle's time is just about over, but there's plenty of more worthwhile work to be done by future systems.

Trying to "reprioritize" by cutting or killing NASA is like trying to clean up your entire desk by meticulously arranging a single box of paper clips.

[PokerPacker]

Trying to "reprioritize" by cutting or killing NASA is like trying to clean up your entire desk by meticulously arranging a single box of paper clips.

now THAT's my kind of clean up. :cool:

[ashburnskinsfan]

All of NASA's spaceflight operations, when added together, comprise about three quarters of one percent of the country's discretionary budget.

NASA as an entire entity, including non-space applications, uses 2% of the discretionary budget.

And that total budget number doesn't even count the absolutely massive non-discretionary stuff like Social Security, etc. So the real percentages of total spending are even smaller.

Things larger than all of NASA's space flight operations put together:

- Missile defense (150% the size)

- IRS (170% the size)

- Border security (270% the size)

Talk about your largely ineffectual larger targets.

The Space Shuttle's time is just about over, but there's plenty of more worthwhile work to be done by future systems.

Trying to "reprioritize" by cutting or killing NASA is like trying to clean up your entire desk by meticulously arranging a single box of paper clips.

Yup ... 'earmarks' on the federal budget, i.e. pork barrel spending, is close to 60% of the whole NASA budget. There are plenty of other areas where the federal budget could be better spent before we get to NASA.