"Gig 601XL Builder" wr.giacona@coxDOTnet wrote in news:4LsKe.8$7f5.7
@okepread01:


"Dave" wrote in message
...


Brad Zeigler wrote:

And as an added bonus, the Edwards AFB landing qualifies Commander
Collins
for two weeks of valuable cross country time, as opposed to having to log
the time as "local" had they landed at the Cape.

There ya go, Commander, you got free fries with that shake!

I wonder though... during re-entry they do these banking manouveurs
(sp) to help slow down. Early on they banked to about 80 degrees. Does
the commander have acrobatic license? G

No, really, I'd like to see a schematic illustration of exactly how
this flying machine transitions, with temp charts and all. Or,
descriptions/stories from those in the know about this stuff.



NASA.Gov used to have a pretty neat web page up that showed the landing
process on about a High School level. No heat charts but it did list the
skin temp at various points in the reentry process. It's been years and I
don't have a clue as to where it is or if it is still on their site
somewhere.

"NSTS 1988 News Reference Manual"
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/...tsref-toc.html

A little dated, perhaps, but fundamentally accurate.

From the Mission Events section on Entry at,

http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/technology/sts-
newsref/sts_mes.html#mes_entry

"In the automatic mode, the orbiter is essentially a missile,
and the flight crew monitors the instruments to verify that
the vehicle is following the correct trajectory. The onboard
computers execute the flight control laws (equations). If the
vehicle diverges from the trajectory, the crew can take over
at any time by switching to CSS. The orbiter can fly to a
landing in the automatic mode (only landing gear extension
and braking action on the runway are required by the flight
crew). The autoland mode capability of the orbiter is used by
the crew usually to a predetermined point in flying around
the heading alignment cylinder. In flights to date, the crew
has switched to CSS when the orbiter is subsonic. However,
autoland provides information to the crew displays during the
landing sequence."

I was watching the landing live on NASA-TV adn I distinctly recall
the announcer mentioning when the pilot took over. I also recall
hearing that the pilot flew the orbiter down but hands the controls
to the commander for the actual landing.

I can't seem to confirm this 100% but STS-2 is supposed to have
been flown manually all the way down by pilot Joe Engle. I've
found this stated on several bio websites such as,

http://www.edwards.af.mil/archive/2000/001004pr.html
http://www.au.af.mil/au/goe/eaglebio...os/engle95.htm

In other googling I found reference to manual control after the
first S-turn on STS-1 thru STS-4, thereafter it all being automatic
until subsonic.

Brian
--
http://www.skywise711.com - Lasers, Seismology, Astronomy, Skepticism

Seismic FAQ: http://www.skywise711.com/SeismicFAQ/SeismicFAQ.html
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