[net.columbia] Cloud Cover a Problem?

sah@houxa.UUCP (S.HOKE) (01/10/86)

After hearing that a shuttle launch was again delayed
because of cloud cover, I began to wonder how much of
a problem this cover poses.  I would think that the
shuttle would *blow through* the cloud cover in only 
several seconds.

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Sam Hoke   -AT&T Technologies Holmel, NJ-  houxa!sah
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mikel@codas.ATT.UUCP (Mikel Manitius) (01/11/86)

> After hearing that a shuttle launch was again delayed
> because of cloud cover, I began to wonder how much of
> a problem this cover poses.  I would think that the
> shuttle would *blow through* the cloud cover in only 
> several seconds.

The problem isn't so much the liftoff. Kennedy Space Center
has an emergency landing strip that the shuttle would use
if something went wrong before it reached a high enough
altitute so that it could either land in Europe or California,
or establish a temporary low orbit.

It has been raining and very dark all of this week here
in Central Florida, under such conditions, the margin
of safty for making an emergency landing at the space
center dimminishes greatly.
-- 
			Mikel Manitius @ AT&T-IS Altamonte Springs, FL
			...{ihnp4|akgua|bellcore|clyde|koura}!codas!mikel