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  Photo of the week 140 (July 7)

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Author Topic:   Photo of the week 140 (July 7)
heng44
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Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001

posted 07-07-2007 02:45 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for heng44   Click Here to Email heng44     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

One of the STS-6 mission specialists photographs the runway at Edwards AFB shortly before Challenger touched down there on April 9, 1983.

Ed Hengeveld

sikotic19
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Posts: 80
From: Chattanooga, TN, USA
Registered: Jul 2001

posted 07-07-2007 05:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for sikotic19   Click Here to Email sikotic19     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I got this same photo signed at the UACC show by Paul Weitz. He laughed when he saw it and told me after the shuttle reentered the atmosphere, Story Musgrave got out of his seat and began taking photos out the windows all the way to touchdown. I told him I read in Tom Jones' book that Story did the same thing on STS-80. He said that didn't surprise him at all.

Geoff

gliderpilotuk
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Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-07-2007 06:13 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Yeah, I heard the same "story" from Paul Weitz. This photo really shows what a 20deg glide-slope looks like. I'd be thinking "overshoot" if I saw that through my canopy.

Paul

ea757grrl
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Posts: 729
From: South Carolina
Registered: Jul 2006

posted 07-07-2007 08:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for ea757grrl   Click Here to Email ea757grrl     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
STS-6 is always special to me; I have distinct memories of watching that landing on ABC that Saturday afternoon. A friend was over and we were recording some goofy stuff for the fun of it on the cheap little tape recorder I'd gotten for Christmas in 1982, and interrupted right in the middle of it for a "special report," and then I taped portions of the ABC coverage (with Lynn Sherr and Gene Cernan) off the television speaker. So that mission always brings a smile to my face.

jodie

Greggy_D
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Posts: 977
From: Michigan
Registered: Jul 2006

posted 07-07-2007 10:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Greggy_D   Click Here to Email Greggy_D     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have the ABC launch, spacewalk, and landing (all with Sherr and Cernan) on Beta somewhere in the house. I need to buy a cheap Beta machine off Ebay so I can transfer all my Shuttle tapes to DVD.

astro-nut
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Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006

posted 07-07-2007 10:38 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for astro-nut   Click Here to Email astro-nut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I too remeber watching the STS-6 mission. For the launch my science teacher and I went to watch the launch on television(ABC coverage) and I ran home from school on the day of the EVA to watch Story and Don do the first ever shuttle EVA and I remember watching that Saturday coverage of the landing as well. Thanks for the post.

Philip
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Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001

posted 07-07-2007 02:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Philip   Click Here to Email Philip     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Too bad You didn't post a photo of STS-7 on this 7/7/2007

OV-105
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Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000

posted 07-07-2007 02:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for OV-105   Click Here to Email OV-105     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Always have loved that photo. I was on the lake bed just to the left of of the shuttle. I miss getting to go out there for the landings. When the do get to land out here I can just make it before the shuttle gets there.

taneal1
Member

Posts: 230
From: Orlando, FL
Registered: Feb 2004

posted 07-09-2007 05:57 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for taneal1   Click Here to Email taneal1     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by gliderpilotuk:
Yeah, I heard the same "story" from Paul Weitz. This photo really shows what a 20deg glide-slope looks like. I'd be thinking "overshoot" if I saw that through my canopy.
It's been a few years since I've overflown EDW, but I believe that's the approach end of runway 22 nearest to the shuttle. i.e. The end that juts out onto Rogers Dry Lake. STS-6 landed on this runway.

It's VERY difficult to judge altitude on a clear day over the desert particularly from a photo. Challenger is perpendicular to the runway in this photo. But, considering the angle of this view out the side window I assume they were flying around the HAC at the time this photo was taken rather than on final. Their altitude would be considerably higher than if they were on final approach.

Musgrave had considerable T-38 time when he flew this mission. Has anyone ever asked him how much he wished he was in the left seat for this (and his other) missions? I would think that it would be "rather" frustrating to sit and watch... :-(

Tom

Edited by taneal1

gliderpilotuk
Member

Posts: 3398
From: London, UK
Registered: Feb 2002

posted 07-10-2007 06:11 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for gliderpilotuk   Click Here to Email gliderpilotuk     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Tom,

I didn't know the shuttle did a standard "overhead join" before descending on the dead side.

Seriously, yes I agree they look too high for finals here.

Paul

E2M Lem Man
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Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005

posted 07-10-2007 02:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for E2M Lem Man   Click Here to Email E2M Lem Man     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
STS-6 has some special memories for me as well. I was helping to cover the first Challenger flight for a local newspaper. A friend from a Bakersfield news-radio station grabbed me a couple hours before the landing and said to follow him.

Perplexed I did so, showing the banner in the window of the car. Under tight security we were led across country and then turned around, taken back to the landing strip. That's where we sat for hours, next to the runway. No restroom there!

If the Shuttle's tanks had leaked we were told we would be dead... but what a viewpoint! The orbiter's wing passed us a scant few feet away and a distinct sound of rushing air as she went by, and then the T-38s going to afterburner to pull up and away. I will never forget that.

J.M. Busby

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