"And Discovery is home". Great words to hear.

That's why I dislike most TV news. NASA-TV, unfortunately, is something I do not have access to (I assume it's cable, which I do not have, and/or online, which my old computer and dial-up connection cannot handle).

Ok, well, I'm lucky enough to be able to live in the area where the shuttle passes, literally, directly over my house, and, also, transitions to subsonic speeds. Of course, when I went to bed last night, I had read it was landing at KSC, so the booms last night were an unexpected surprise that served as the perfect alarm clock (they went off 5 min before my clock does). The booms literally made my house shake, and all the car alarms around us went off, and so on. My dad thought it was a terrorist attack, luckily I realized it was the shuttle. Ran downstairs and turned on NASA-TV just in time to watch the final approach.


What an awesome start to my day!

PS: Kind of a geeky thing, but when it woke me up and I realized what they were...I said "Welcome home, Discovery" out loud :D

I'm hoping they piggyback it to florida on a weekend so I can go take some pictures. ;)

The shuttle began the last leg of its journey, riding on a modified 747 across the country to Florida. It will take 2 days with 2 stops. There was about a 90 minute delay as the pre-flight inspection took longer than anticipated.

Right now, NASA is saying no earlier than March for the next mission. If so, while a few months later than the original plan, it wouldn't be bad all things considered.

I'm just kind of bummed they stopped at an Air Force Base for the refueling/overnight stop. If it had been at a public airport (where you could see it from the public areas), I would have considered driving over to see it. (Well, and there is that almost $2.50/gallon issue, too)

I would doubt most airports could handle such a landing. The length of the runways for something that heavy to stop would have to be much longer than a typical metro airport. I am not any sort of engineer, but I figure the shuttle probably close to doubles the weight of that 747 it piggy backs on. So I figure a military base is the only option, with their longer runways.

I know you're right, it's just that I was kind of hoping they'd be somewhere the public could see it (though THAT may be part of the plan, too). Wouldn't be surprising if the weight itself and the thickness of the runway (in addition to length) was a consideration as well.