The landing of STS-119

Cross-posted at Cosmo.Sphere

After a week of hardware testing at Kennedy Space Center, last Saturday ended up being just the send-off I’d hoped for.

I had obtained invitations for myself and my Italian counterparts to the mid-field viewing site for the Shuttle landing.  I also had a 5:45 PM flight on Southwest from Orlando to Houston to catch!

Fortunately, we all made it to the Space Station Processing Facility to wait for the bus with plenty of time.

Much to our dismay, the first landing opportunity was waved off.  Too many low clouds and too high crosswinds at the landing strip.  A few of us ran out to eat lunch at Shuttle’s and, then, dashed back to see if the second opportunity was a “go.”

I was not the only person in the group on the 5:45 flight back home, so we agonized over whether we’d have enough time to make it to the airport with a 3:30 landing.  The afternoon sea breeze rolled in and turned the high crosswind into an acceptible headwind for a northern approach, though.  We decided to go for it!

The NASA bus took us out to the mid-field site to wait for the landing.  The press were up on the control tower overlooks and the astronauts’ families had a private area off to the right.  We employees and guests had the risers in the middle.  I did not envy my friends in the landing convoy.  Despite having the best seat in the house, their SCAPE suits are HOT!

The comm loop blared out over the loudspeakers to keep us appraised of OV-103’s impending approach.  I was asked several times when we’d know if the Shuttle was close.  The controllers put Discovery on a path that would overfly the Florida Gulf Coast, do a pass of the landing strip, and then make the 180-degree turn to bleed off energy and head for the landing from the north.

So, I answered with a grin, “Oh, we’ll know!”  We were not disappointed.  The characteristic double-boom greeted us, even though we could not yet see the Orbiter through the cloud deck.  When traveling at supersonic speeds, every vehicle creates a shock at the nose and behind.  However, most high-speed craft are streamlined such that the shocks are very close together and we don’t hear the difference.

The Shuttle Orbiter, though, is a very blunt body.  (On final approach, it’s virtually a flying brick.) As a result, the aft shock cone forms far enough behind the Orbiter that you can actually hear it separately from the forward shock.  And, oh, can you hear it!  Even knowing it was coming, I still jumped a little… and several people nearby jumped a lot!

I knew that the Orbiter had already passed our position on the field by the time the shocks reached us, so I turned northward to watch the clouds for a break.  Faster than most people were expecting, Discovery dropped into view with surprising speed and descended towards us.

Even with the headwind making this “the slowest landing we’ve ever seen,” in the words of some of the veteran watchers I met, Discovery still rolled across the 15,000-ft landing strip (that took two years to build) at a good clip.  You could clearly see the heat scorching from both launch and landing on her worn thermal protection.

Within a few moments, Discovery rolled past into the next set of trees and out of sight, except for her tail and drogue chute.  The landing convoy bustled to get ready to meet the Orbiter at the end of the runway.  My trip to KSC was now complete and it was time to go home.