Space Shuttle Returning Today 3/28/09 - at 1:39pm or 1739 GMT

The space shuttle Discovery is returning today after a 13 day mission with 9 days at the ISS. The landing is expected to be at 1:39 at Kennedy Space Center or 1739 GMT.

Johnson Space center is forecasting acceptable weather for their reentry and landing back to Earth. There is concern of some cloud coverage, and if there are any problems they then are cleared for a 3:13 second landing opportunity in Florida.

link to nasa t.v:
www.nasa.gov...

link to info on their landing and weather info for it: from Spaceflight now website:
www.spaceflightnow.com...

info on what they have done during their flight/trip:
uk.news.yahoo.com...

Lets all hope for a safe reentry and landing.

I am watching nasa tv now. The crew are putting on their re-entry suits, and the de-orbit burn will start in one hour.

Low earth orbit is becoming an interesting place over the years, and has become very busy. Today, the shuttle is landing, and at the same time, the expedition 19 crew docked to the ISS. I think we can expect a traffic jam in space in the near future.

Mission controllers will be deciding whether to use the first opportunity or wait for the second one, as Brentt Jett(former astronaut) flying onboard a modified gulfstream aircraft over KSC, is reporting bad weather.

Twenty minutes to go for the confirmation of de-orbit burn.

First landing opportunity scrubbed due to bad weather.

reply to post by peacejet


They're planning on another day in orbit. The conditions are unlikely to improve in time for the second attempt.

reply to post by Zaphod58


No, I think they are still waiting for the condition's to clear before any final decision is taken, only the attitude was temporarily changed from the de-orbit position and the new time keyed in.

The soyuz hatch opening will be in a few minutes.

[edit on March 28th, 2009 by peacejet]

reply to post by peacejet


They haven't made an official decision, but the weather gurus are saying that it's unlikely that it's going to clear up in the next two hours or so based on the radar.

reply to post by Zaphod58


Oh well, better keep fingers crossed.

reply to post by peacejet


Hopefully they can make it down today, because the forecast for tomorrow looks even worse. They're calling for partly cloudy Monday, so they might make it then if they can't today. After that they'd probably have to go to Edwards. After Monday, they're calling for thunderstorms every day until the following Monday.

Wow thanks you two, I had just come to the thread and got updated.

I have NASA up now.

Just said they think they will be able to land for second opportunity.

Conditions have improved, deorbit burn is scheduled for about 3 minutes from now. 1408EST.

coming in for a landing, 20 mins away.

one liner

Fox is showing it live right now

not one liner

WOW they are EXACTLY on time.... how do they do that?

To the moment they said it would land.. I am impressed.

reply to post by questioningall


Amazing isnt it, such is their calculations.

reply to post by questioningall


We used to have aircraft come in all the time with their ETA. Sometimes even an hour or more EARLY. It's not really that difficult a calculation to make, provided everything goes on time.

Hi, this is my first post here.....if the current shuttle mission spent 9 days at the ISS, what did they do for the 4 days in between? It doesnt take 2 days to get to and from the ISS does it? It's funny how the local newpapers report this but don't cover the 'missing' 4 days?? (This question has probably already been raised in an earlier post?)

reply to post by Alistar0869


There are no "missing" days in a mission. They spent 8 days attached to the ISS total. The first day or so in orbit they unstow everything, open the doors, adjust orbit to meet the ISS etc. They detached Wednesday, orbited around it taking pictures, then adjusted their orbit to get away from the ISS. Thursday and Friday were spent stowing equipment, cargo coming back from the ISS, etc as well as getting ready to return. Saturday was spent preparing for the return in the morning, getting suited up etc, and then waiting until the second return window.

[edit on 3/29/2009 by Zaphod58]