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RARE SHUTTLE RE-ENTRY: On Monday morning, April 19th, space shuttle Discovery will make a rare "descending node" overflight of the continental United States en route to landing in Florida. Many towns and cities in the country's heartland are near the ground track:



UPDATE! How to predict sighting
opportunities for your location

Landing is scheduled for 8:48 am EDT, and it takes the shuttle about 35 minutes to traverse the path shown above. Observers in the northwestern USA will see the shuttle shortly after 5 am PDT blazing like a meteoritic fireball through the dawn sky. As Discovery makes its way east, it will enter daylight and fade into the bright blue background. If you can't see the shuttle, however, you might be able to hear it. The shuttle produces a sonic double-boom that reaches the ground about a minute and a half after passing overhead.

Check nasa.gov for more maps. A forecast of cloud cover along the ground track is also available.

Shuttle doing possible rare NW to SE landing.

The rare U.S. flyover -
weather permitting - was going to provide a streaking light show for those beneath the flight path. For Monday's first landing opportunity at 8:48 a.m., Discovery would zoom over British Columbia and Alberta, swing down over Montana and the Dakotas, and pass over Sioux City, Iowa, and the middle of Missouri. Then it would come down over the eastern border of Arkansas and Tennessee, then over northeastern Mississippi and Alabama, southwestern Georgia and almost directly over Jacksonville.

The second opportunity, 1 1/2 hours later, would have the shuttle crossing over Washington state and passing over more of the heartland.

Flight director Bryan Lunney said it should be an impressive sight, with the shuttle visible from the ground for as long as a couple minutes. And then there's the mighty sound. In 2007, the shuttle's sonic booms could be heard almost as far north as Nebraska, he said.

Cool stuff. Last time the shuttle came over L.A. (Sept. 09) we got a very cool double sonic boom. I was on the roof working on an antenna and was able to feel a little bit of the shock wave.

35 minutes from left coast top to right coast bottom.
Smokin'.

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Any reports?

_________________
" SILENCE IS CONSENT "

Made to Government Specs:
1) Measured with a micrometer.
2) Marked with a chalk.
3) Cut with an axe.

Jim N7UAP - Bellingham, WA / InterceptRadio.com

Waved off weather on FL. It will land tomorrow at Edwards

Same time same station? :D

_________________
" SILENCE IS CONSENT "

Made to Government Specs:
1) Measured with a micrometer.
2) Marked with a chalk.
3) Cut with an axe.

Jim N7UAP - Bellingham, WA / InterceptRadio.com

Bellingham residents report 'boom,' but origin is a mystery

Read more: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2010/04 ... z0laMEqK7H

_________________
" SILENCE IS CONSENT "

Made to Government Specs:
1) Measured with a micrometer.
2) Marked with a chalk.
3) Cut with an axe.

Jim N7UAP - Bellingham, WA / InterceptRadio.com

If it's Edwards you're in luck Rich. Ground track to FL is over Van Is again.