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  Photo of the week 389 (April 7, 2012)

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Author Topic:   Photo of the week 389 (April 7, 2012)
heng44
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From: Netherlands
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posted 04-07-2012 01:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

Would like to see some shots of Columbia sitting at White Sands (hint, hint)... — APG85
Two photos of Columbia’s first and only landing at White Sands, New Mexico, at the conclusion of STS-3 in March 1982. Astronauts Lousma and Fullerton were unable to land at Edwards AFB because the lakebed was flooded after heavy rain.

Ed Hengeveld

Fezman92
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From: New Jersey, USA
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posted 04-07-2012 02:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fezman92   Click Here to Email Fezman92     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
She looks very dirty...

Philip
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From: Brussels, Belgium
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posted 04-07-2012 03:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Nice photo's Ed... I visited White Sands twice and remember the logo which could be found, painted at gas stations in a few cities around the lake bed (Cloudcroft Oteroe county).

How made landings did the shuttle program make in total in White Sands?

Cozmosis22
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From: Texas * Earth
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posted 04-07-2012 03:33 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Cozmosis22     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
How made landings did the shuttle program make in total in White Sands?
Only one.

alanh_7
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From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
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posted 04-07-2012 07:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for alanh_7   Click Here to Email alanh_7     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
At the 2008 Astronaut Scholarship Foundation show it was my privilege to sit near Jack Lousma for a bus tour of the Kennedy Space Center and have the pleasure of talking to him during the tour and several times since.

He told a funny story about how NASA kept changing the landing zone from White Sands to Edwards and back and his family was told to get ready for a White Sands landing, then told it was Edwards and then finally White Sands (I don't think his family were able to make it in time for the landing at White Sands). He also said conditions were not the best for White Sands landing either but were better than Edwards.

I mentioned earlier on another comment of one of Ed's photos Jack Lousma said between the wind and fine sand, it got into everything and resulted in a slower than hoped turn around time for Columbia.

Great photos.

APG85
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posted 04-07-2012 08:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for APG85     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great photos!! Thanks for taking my request/hint.

OV-105
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From: Ridgecrest, CA
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posted 04-07-2012 09:57 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for OV-105   Click Here to Email OV-105     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If I remember right, if they could not land at White Sands that day they were going to go to KSC. They did not have the convoy at Edwards; they had sent it by train to White Sands.

As for Columbia looking "dirty" the flight did thermal testing so one side of the shuttle faced the sun for a number of hours at a time.

davidcwagner
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From: Albuquerque, New Mexico
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posted 04-07-2012 10:16 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for davidcwagner   Click Here to Email davidcwagner     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
My brother and I witnessed the White Sands landing. The thing flew like a brick and lost altitude at an astounding rate. The turns were so extreme that we could look "down" on the top of the shuttle from the ground.

LM-12
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From: Ontario, Canada
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posted 04-07-2012 11:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for LM-12     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Was there a Mate-Demate Device at White Sands, or did they have to build one after STS-3 landed?

Robert Pearlman
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From: Houston, TX
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posted 04-07-2012 12:04 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
They used cranes, much like they will to unload Discovery and load and unload Enterprise later this month in Washington, DC and New York.

mach3valkyrie
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From: Albany, Oregon
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posted 04-07-2012 04:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for mach3valkyrie   Click Here to Email mach3valkyrie     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The mountains surrounding Northrup Strip make for some spectacular background scenery.

I especially like this mission because it is unique in the Shuttle program for the landing site.

Just think if we'd ever launched from Vandenberg and had to land at Easter Island. Talk about remote!

astro-nut
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From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 04-07-2012 06:02 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for astro-nut   Click Here to Email astro-nut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Great photos from both Ed and Robert. Thank you for sharing them.

Those early flights of the shuttle seems so long ago.

Henry Heatherbank
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From: Adelaide, South Australia
Registered: Apr 2005

posted 04-07-2012 08:14 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Henry Heatherbank     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Regardless of landing site, there must have been mission rules about the need to quickly get the Orbiter out of the open and under cover, once safing was complete (?). As much as sand at White Sands would have been a headache, I can imagine sand/salt at EAFB (mostly the lakebed landings) and torrential rain at KSC being a problem too?

sfurtaw
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From: Saginaw, MI USA
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 04-07-2012 09:08 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for sfurtaw   Click Here to Email sfurtaw     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by alanh_7:
(I don't think his family were able to make it in time for the landing at White Sands).
As I remember Col. Lousma telling the story about six years ago, his family (at least his wife, Gracia) were at White Sands, but the weather was forecast at a high chance of no-go due to wind.

NASA was sending a plane to KSC, and told Gracia that she had so much time to decide whether to stay or go. She asked a local gardener for his opinion. He told her that in all his years he had never seen winds that strong three days in a row. This was day two of high winds, with landing the next day.

She was one of a very few who opted to stay. The next day, the winds were calmer, and Columbia landed. Col. Lousma said the moral of the story is to always listen to the local gardener.

APG85
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posted 04-07-2012 10:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for APG85     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'll have to admit, I always secretly hoped for another landing at White Sands. The background and setting made for a unique and breathtaking place for the Shuttle to land. Almost a shame it happened only once...

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