Discovery just flew overhead ...

[Snuffy]

On their way home!

[Matt Wynn]

watching it on NASA TV Currently :salute:

[Snuffy]

watching it on NASA TV Currently :salute:

Me too ... but had to watch it streak across the sky and felt the sonic booms a few minutes ago!

Thrilling!

[Matt Wynn]

oh it really is thrilling, that double boom really gets the hairs on my arms standing on end... but that might just be because i'm a soldier and associate with other noises... but what a sight! welcome back Discovery :salute:

WOOOOHOOOOO! WELCOME BACK DISCOVERY! great landing chute cut and stopped, cooldown time now...

[txnetcop]

Yep me too!
Ted
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[brad kaste]

....Only three more space shuttle flights left......

[Wiens]

Would that explain a loud boom over central Kansas this morning around 8 am?

Kevin

[boxcar]

.


Would that explain a loud boom over central Kansas this morning around 8 am?


It would at that. :) She crossed the southwestern Nebraska panhandle & central Kansas on her way back down. It was magnificent.
.

[Snuffy]

Would that explain a loud boom over central Kansas this morning around 8 am?

Kevin

It might could ... Discovery flew over head here in FLA a little after 9 ... I think we have about an hour's difference between us don't we time zone wise?

[boxcar]

.
Flight path (second one down) along with a cool, night reentry video clip:

http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/discovery-re-entry-path-over-wnc.html (http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/discovery-re-entry-path-over-wnc.html)
.

[Toastmaker]

I watched Discovery make a grease job landing in Florida this morning and reminded myself of the kind of country that could make such a vehicle and misson happen.

Then I reminded myself that there are only three such missions left. After that, we get to "ask" the Russians (or someone else) for a ride and get to pay intentionally increased costs for that favor.

We should only ever have to ask the Russians for one thing - send more vodka. This is a despicable abrogation of America's leadership in space exploration.

:kilroy:

[hey_moe]

Teddy....did they see you and did ya wave to them too :wavey:

[Snuffy]

Teddy....did they see you and did ya wave to them too :wavey:

I hope so, I was down here jumpin up and down and waving my arms frantically like an idiot trying to change sunspots! :mixedsmi:

[Wiens]

It might could ... Discovery flew over head here in FLA a little after 9 ... I think we have about an hour's difference between us don't we time zone wise?

Snuffy,

It was a little before 8 am. You are one hour ahead of us in Kansas. I wish I would have known ahead of time, I would have been outside watching for it!!

Kevin

[Wiens]

.
Flight path (second one down) along with a cool, night reentry video clip:

http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/discovery-re-entry-path-over-wnc.html (http://thunderpigblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/discovery-re-entry-path-over-wnc.html)
.


Boxcar,

The second landing opportunity would have taken the shuttle right over Hutchinson, KS. :jump:

I'm sorry I wasn't outside at the time and I missed it........

Kevin

[Roadburner440]

I wish I could of gotten to see it land. I was asleep though. Managed to watch it take off for this mission though, and that is one of the coolest things I have ever seen. It is just amazing to me that I could see it all the way from Jacksonville. Such a shame that there are only 3 flights left. I probably should make arrangements to go to the Cape to see one of them, but I bet they will be massively packed seeing as it is the end of the program.

[aeromed202]

I was hopping mad because this AM when I checked, the news was that weather had postponed landing again so I planned my chores for the day. Later what do I find out? The clouds parted and they made a dash home. I was soooooo hoping to see that streak coming in. Did anybody get pics or video??

[Snuffy]

No sorry. I was at work ... I just stepped outside and got lucky to have timed it right, despite watching the progress of the flight on the computer.

Then to feel the double boom boom ... :)

[PRB]

That's awesome. I got to hear the sonic boom once, while stationed at NAS Lemoore, in central CA. That day the ship landed at Edwards, and it's path took it right over the San Joaquin Valley. BOOM-boom... That was cool. Still haven't seen one take off yet. Guess I only have three more chances! And I heard on the news that the Russians have doubled the price for a ride to the ISS. Just in time to help out NASA hitch-hikers.

[Snuffy]

I got to see this Discovery mission take off too!

I was on my way into work about 6:30 AM or so and looked off to the east and there she was, just the largest roman candle I'd ever seen and lighting up the morning sky!

[Ken Stallings]

....Only three more space shuttle flights left......

With no other manned space flight option available in the United States for the foreseeable future now that Constellation has been cancelled.

Frankly, I am not celebrating these last flights because I am much sadder that we are throwing away our manned space program with each final shuttle flight!

Ken

[tigisfat]

With no other manned space flight option available in the United States for the foreseeable future now that Constellation has been cancelled.

Frankly, I am not celebrating these last flights because I am much sadder that we are throwing away our manned space program with each final shuttle flight!

Ken

Exactly. Advanced aerospace research has preceded nearly all of our technological growth as human beings since manned flight began.

Burt Rutan put it best: We should not look forward to the next phone with an embedded media screen, we should look forward to huge leaps in advanced research, because that is what has saved mankind thus far. If we had not made the same leaps and bounds in aerospace, life would be wholly different.

We must keep pressing forward with technology. Technology fuels jobs, the economy and the industrious spirit of our modern nation. With the hunger for advancement our lives will become creepy and pointless.

The end of our space program as we know it is an ominous dark cloud looming over the road ahead. It says something about the shift in personalities nationwide. I honestly think cancelling advanced research and exploration will lead to our eventual fall in global economic standings as well as eventually threatenin national security. We'll feel bad our priorities were feeding the lazy when some vicious renegade country that doesn't care about peace steamrolls us.