Shuttle Atlantis landed safely
Just watched the space shuttle Atlantis land - cool to see as always; nice safe landing. When I was a kid, I'd watch all the Apollo missions I was allowed to watch. It was fascinating to me. What happened to the space program? Where did it go? I rarely see anything about the space program on the news (other than literally the last minute of the landing).
I guess it's a bit like watching paint dry for most people - "look, there's no gravity here... I'm drinking gatorade that's floating around the capsule..."
Cool. For me, the Shuttle and airliners are far more improbable when they land than when they take off, and it always impresses me. We happened to be in the Science Museum in Pittsburgh when the August shuttle mission landed, and they had great coverage of the approach and accompanying commentary. It was the first time I realised that the Shuttle doesn't always simply descend in a straight line, but can also do a 'spiral descent' once it's back in the atmosphere.
Posted by Robin Wilton on February 20, 2008 at 06:50 AM PST #