Shuttle Landing at EAFB
Passing on this cool video of the Shuttle landing. Cockpit video
A view of the shuttle landing from the pilots seat.
you to understand what is going on and what to look for. The video
attached to this file is an impressive cockpit view of the landing of a
space shuttle at Edwards AFB, California to Runway 22 (southwest
direction). The view is through the cockpit window with a HUD (Head Up
Display) superimposed in front of the window. The HUD makes it possible
for the astronaut to look out of the space shuttle yet have the relevant
information to fly and land in the space shuttle
- altitude, speed, on course or not, wings level, etc. (no need to glance
down at his instruments).The video opens with the space shuttle flying in
an easterly direction in preparation to land.
There is some light conversation among the crew about a cloud cover - an
under cast. You will see the under cast(clouds)at the bottom of the
picture with the atmosphere giving off a faint color differentiation and
then the darkening shades of blue to dark space. You can note the speed
references to Mach Two (>1200mph) and the slow decreases to Mach 1.6, then
1.1, and finally Mach 1 .
(Mach 1 being the speed of sound!) One crew member is backing up the flying astronaut by reminding him of the
next events - important because there is little to no room for error as
the space shuttle is one giant glider with no chance to add power or go
around. Just short of 3 minutes into the video one crew member gives the
flying astronaut a point when he should start a right turn for the runway.
At about 3:10 in the video the astronaut is told he has the 'needle'
centered, referring to being on course. At about 3:46 the astronaut is
told he is at the 90 - referencing the point in the pattern where he is to
make a final 90 degree turn to line up with the runway. Soon after the
astronaut calls "Yeah we have the runway." look at the upper right corner
of the video to see the runway come into view.
(The runway is 16,500 feet of cement - 3 miles long.)The height above the
runway makes for a steep descent by commercial airline operations - it is
a 19-degree glide slope. A typical airline flies a 3 degree glide slope. Notice how fast the shuttle passes through altitudes and the high approach
speed 200 knots. At one point the flying astronaut makes the point that
the wind is greater than anticipated and he knows that could make a
difference in the remaining energy to reach the runway. It is a great
video to the end.
