Aalice.161
net.columbia
utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!research!alice!sjb
Sat Nov 14 09:43:41 1981
update and landing timetable
The biggest loss from the shortened flight of the shuttle,
says NASA, is that there was not enough time to collect
information on the ship's durability. They are trying
to get data on the thermal reaction of the ship to the
environment in outer space. And officials are now talking
of cutting the seven day mission in March to five days
to gradually lengthen flight time. One Johnson Space
Flight Center officials said though that neither that
nor the mission in June would be significantly changed.
President Reagan meanwhile paid a visit to Houston and
talked to the astronauts: ``This whole nation...has got
its eyes and heart on you. I'm sure you know how proud everyone
down here is.''
---------------------------
For those of you who want to follow the landing closely,
here is a schedule of events that will happen if it lands
on time, at 1622 EST:
1510 -- Shuttle turns to a tail-first position
1525 -- The two OMS engines fire for 2 minutes, 29 seconds
and the Columbia begins its descent from 157 miles high
1550 -- Columbia enters the atmosphere on orbit 37 at 400,000
feet, north of Hawaii, and is protected from the friction
by its tiles.
1552 -- Building ionization starts a 17 minute communications blackout.
1622 -- The ship lands and rolls to a stop 2 minutes later. Crews
make sure there are no fumes or leaks around.
1652 (approx.) -- Engle and Truly leave the shuttle.
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