Space Shuttle Landing, Anyone Ever See...*UPDATE!*

[Virgo10]

No visuals here but OMG!!!! the sonic booms nearly knocked me off my feet. There were two of them, one right after the other. It was really awesome!

Glad they're down and safe.


the landing approach? I was just checking NASA's website and the path looks like it might be really close to my house. They've got touchdown for 9:14 a.m.

Guess I'll be outside a few minutes before just to see if there's something to look at.

 

[escape]

I would suspect that you would be able to see something if you are in the path.

Are you going to try to take some pics for us?

 

[Virgo10]

Are you going to try to take some pics for us?

Sure will!

 

[Towncrier]

Listen for the double sonic boom. We heard it once when we were vacationing at WDW. The shuttle flew close enough that we were able to hear a very clear BOOM...BOOM as it was landing. The local TV station(s) in Orlando also have had (in the past) a live video feed from the shuttle that shows the landing from the perspective of the pilot.

 

[floridafam]

I just posted basically the same thread. I was wondering, also.

 

[CathrynRose]

the landing approach? I was just checking NASA's website and the path looks like it might be really close to my house. They've got touchdown for 9:14 a.m.

Guess I'll be outside a few minutes before just to see if there's something to look at.

You can hear it - thats for sure. You can even hear it at WDW.

We were there for John Glenn's return to space - and watched the launch. And were at Blizzard Beach when we heard the *BOOM*! Everyone was looking around and the lifeguards said "It was the Space Shuttle - it's fine"

Then my mom made a cool point "Imagine that. We were at WDW, longer then they were in space!"

 

[floridafam]

Does anyone know when we would be able to hear the sonic boom in relation to the landing time?

 

[CarolG]

I finally found a live video that's not blocked from my office - they're down safely!

 

[floridafam]

We heard what we thought was 2 booms but they were a few minutes afterr they heard the booms on TV. Would that make sense?


They were very faint.


Other than that, we didn't hear anything.

I'm so glad they are home safely. They said the next launch is about a month from now.

 

[Virgo10]

We heard what we thought was 2 booms but they were a few minutes afterr they heard the booms on TV. Would that make sense?


They were very faint.


Other than that, we didn't hear anything.

I'm so glad they are home safely. They said the next launch is about a month from now.

I would think so. Sound does weird stuff.

The booms here rocked the whole house. I was outside looking and nearly fell over.

 

[Charade]

I've seen both the take off (at a great distance) and heard the sonic booms (at a distance as well).

Welcome home!!

 

[Feralpeg]

We heard the sonic booms as well. Too bad it was so cloudy. Although they were so high passing over the Orlando area, we probably wouldn't have seen anything.

I'm so glad they are home safe. Welcome back, Discovery!

 

[Ted and Holly]

For those that heard/felt the booms, did you hear 4 or 5 loud "CLANGs" before the double booms? I had the window open, but I was on a conference call. It could have been my neighbors making noise...

Ted

 

[TennVolTony]

The sonice booms go off just about a minute and half before landing.

 

[Virgo10]

Here's an explanation on why we hear two booms.

As the Space Shuttle re-enters the atmosphere at supersonic speeds, it creates shock waves which produce sonic booms. In fact, you'll hear not one, but two sonic booms! Because the Space Shuttle is so large (122 ft long), you will hear the sonic booms created by both the nose and tail shock waves (they occur about one-half second apart). All supersonic airplanes produce two sonic booms, but because they happen so close to each other, you hear them as one sound.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Those two booms are one of the sweetest sounds I know. Welcome home! Awesome mission.