d88_pata@tekn01.chalmers.se (PATRIK PETTERSSON) (10/04/88)
Two hours ago, the shuttle landed in California. Here in Sweden I heard on the radio some very interesting data. They said that when the vehicle approched the coast of California, its speed was about 4 Mach. Later it was mentioned that the shuttle's speed when it came in for landing was 2 Mach. Is this really so? Does anyone know how fast Discovery were travelling at the moment of touchdown? Surely it must have been lower than the speed of sound, or?? Finally: does the spaceshuttle have any means to decrease its velocity with flaps or something alike? Patrik Pettersson Chalmers University of Technology Sweden
mike@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Mike Smithwick) (10/08/88)
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In article <219@tekn01.chalmers.se> d88_pata@tekn01.chalmers.se (PATRIK PETTERSSON) writes:
<
<Two hours ago, the shuttle landed in California. Here in Sweden I heard
<on the radio some very interesting data. They said that when the vehicle
<approched the coast of California, its speed was about 4 Mach. Later it
<was mentioned that the shuttle's speed when it came in for landing was 2
<Mach. Is this really so? Does anyone know how fast Discovery were travelling
<at the moment of touchdown? Surely it must have been lower than the speed
<of sound, or?? Finally: does the spaceshuttle have any means to decrease its
<velocity with flaps or something alike?
<
< Patrik Pettersson
< Chalmers University of Technology
< Sweden
The Shuttle lands anywhere between about 184 and 196 knots.
The orbiter passes mach 2 at around 45 nm from touchdown. It hits subsonic
speed at 22 nm, and an altitude of 49,000 feet. The speedbrake is
activatied at an altitude of 1750 feet, and wheels are deployed at
the same time.
mike
P.S.
During the Apollo 14 coverage Walter Cronkite said that the spacecraft
was now "400,000, no, 400 million miles from earth". So those kind of
numerical flubs are rather common. A friend in Scotland sent me
a newspaper clipping about the upcoming "84 day long" Spacelab mission.
--
*** mike (starship janitor) smithwick ***
"he's braindead Jim. . ."
[disclaimer : nope, I don't work for NASA, I take full blame for my ideas]birenboi@koh2.usc.edu (Aaron Birenboim) (10/09/88)
In article <219@tekn01.chalmers.se> d88_pata@tekn01.chalmers.se (PATRIK PETTERSSON) writes: > > ... the shuttle's speed when it came in for landing was 2 >Mach. Is this really so? I was watching the landing over NASA select at USC. They had constant reports of total velocity and vertical velocity vectors in ft/sec. I was converting them to MPH, and I think the last total velocity vector was about 400 MPH (666 Km/H). Aaron "The Lumberjack" Birenboim|"In the begining, the Universe was created... | This made a lot of people angry, and was GO TROJANS!! | widely reguarded as a bad move." birenboi@castor.usc.edu | -Douglass Adams _The Guide_
leem@jplpro.JPL.NASA.GOV (Lee Mellinger) (10/12/88)
In article <219@tekn01.chalmers.se> d88_pata@tekn01.chalmers.se (PATRIK PETTERSSON) writes: | |Two hours ago, the shuttle landed in California. Here in Sweden I heard |on the radio some very interesting data. They said that when the vehicle |approched the coast of California, its speed was about 4 Mach. Later it |was mentioned that the shuttle's speed when it came in for landing was 2 |Mach. Is this really so? Does anyone know how fast Discovery were travelling |at the moment of touchdown? Surely it must have been lower than the speed |of sound, or?? Finally: does the spaceshuttle have any means to decrease its |velocity with flaps or something alike? | | Patrik Pettersson | Chalmers University of Technology | Sweden The shuttle crosses the Edwards field boundry at about Mach 1, and the touchdown speed is about 210mph (338kmph) +/- a few mph depending on gross weight. The shuttle orbiter has speed brakes in the form of a split rudder. Lee -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- |Lee F. Mellinger Jet Propulsion Laboratory - NASA| |4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 818/393-0516 FTS 977-0516 | |-------------------------------------------------------------------------| |UUCP: {ames!cit-vax,psivax}!elroy!jpl-devvax!jplpro!leem | |ARPA: jplpro!leem!@cit-vax.ARPA -or- leem@jplpro.JPL.NASA.GOV | -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-