Were there any changes to Space Shuttle Endeavours landing path or did everything go smoothly?”
With the 10:48 a.m. landing of space shuttle Endeavour at Kennedy Space Center a go, residents in areas of southern Collier County have the best chance of hearing the shuttle’s sonic boom and seeing the craft, according to NASA spokesman George Diller. The Endeavour astronauts just crossed over Australia and are headed out over the South Pacific Ocean as their 5,000-mile plunge back through the atmosphere continues without problems. The astronauts soon will feel the first discernable traces of the atmosphere, and normal gravity, as they continue toward a morning landing in Florida. Diller said people will have the best chance of hearing the sonic boom if they are in areas south of Marco Island. “It’s going to be pretty high up when it comes over the coast,” Diller said. “People will probably be able to hear it.” Diller said there is also a possibility the shuttle will be seen as it approaches for landing, but he said people have a better chance of hearing the shuttle rather than seeing
11:05 AM, 7/31/09, Update: Shuttle Endeavour lands in Florida The shuttle Endeavour glided to a landing at the Kennedy Space Center today, wrapping up a marathon 16-day space station construction mission and bringing Japan’s first long-duration astronaut back to Earth after four-and-a-half months in weightlessness. Dropping out of a partly cloudy sky, commander Mark Polansky pulled the shuttle’s nose up just before reaching the runway, pilot Douglas Hurley deployed the spaceplane’s landing gear and Endeavour settled to a picture-perfect landing at 10:48:08 a.m. EDT. Barreling down the runway at more than 200 mph, Hurley released a red-and-white braking parachute, the shuttle’s nose dropped to the runway and Polansky guided the ship to a stop on the runway centerline. “Houston, Endeavour, wheels stopped,” he radioed in a traditional post-landing call to mission control. “Roger wheels stopped, Endeavour. Welcome home,” astronaut Alan Poindexter replied from the Johnson Space Center. “Con
Touchdown. Welcome home Endeavour crew. After a 16 day mission to the International Space Station, the Shuttle and its 7 astronauts have returned safely to Earth. PER NASA: Touchdown for Space Shuttle Endeavour Space shuttle Endeavour touched down at 10:48: a.m. EDT. at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Mark Polansky is expected to make a brief statement on the runway after the post-landing walk-around of the shuttle. The post-landing news conference is set for approximately 1 p.m. and will air live on NASA Television. The crew’s news conference is set to begin at about 3:15 p.m. The astronauts return to Houston’s Ellington Field is tentatively set for about 5 p.m. Saturday. STS-127 was the 127th space shuttle mission, the 23rd flight for Endeavour and the 29th shuttle visit to the station.
