shafer@elxsi.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer (OFV)) (03/05/90)
The shuttle Atlantis landed at Edwards AFB at ~10:08 PST today, Sunday.
It landed on runway 23, which is a lakebed runway, with headwinds of
22 kt. (I'm not sure if that was steady or gusting. It didn't feel like
steady, but I may have been somewhat in the lee of the building.)
It came in from the North. There's a few insubstantial clouds around
and the sun angle wasn't entirely favorable. Most of us picked it up
just before the HAC (heading alignment circle) when it was still
overhead. Just after it rolled into the HAC it obligingly generated a
contrail so that everyone could see it. I thought the rollout was
shorter than normal, perhaps due to the headwind and the lakebed
runway, but that may have been an illusion caused by it being pointed
more directly at me than is usual.
The STA (shuttle training aircraft) flew over Atlantis near the end of
the rollout (it wasn't flying chase, it had done approaches to test
the wind) and then flew over Dryden. Numerous comments, none
favorable, comparing this to the SR-71 flyby two weeks ago were made
by the employees. Calls for afterburner were ignored. :-)
The wishes of the military for secrecy were respected and it's Sunday,
so the crowd was very small. There were some Distinguished Visitors
(including the astronauts' family and friends) on the roof and employees
on the ramp. I'd say about 100 on the roof and about 100 on the ramp,
but these are just guesses.
The SR-71 was on display, as were the other research aircraft.
--
Mary Shafer shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov or ames!skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov!shafer
NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
Of course I don't speak for NASAjokim@jarthur.Claremont.EDU (John H. Kim) (03/05/90)
Atlantis has landed. And Discovery/HST is next!!! -- John H. Kim | (This space to be filled when I jokim@jarthur.Claremont.EDU | think of something very clever uunet!muddcs!jarthur!jokim | to use as a disclaimer)