Space Shuttle Endeavour May Land in California

Californians may get the chance to hear the famous double sonic boom if the space shuttle needs to land in California tonight. From the article:

NASA says it might be forced to land the space shuttle Endeavour at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert on Sunday night due to sketchy weather at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. If that happens, it is possible that people in Orange County will hear the double sonic boom the shuttle makes minutes before it lands. Whether we hear the boom depends on the shuttle’s final flight path. If it reaches the California coast in the Santa Barbara area, we probably wouldn’t hear it. But if it tacks farther south, there’s a good chance we would.

NASA would prefer to land Endeavour in Florida. If the weather clears, the shuttle, which is carrying a crew of six, will touch down in Florida at 10:16 .m. or 11:51 p.m., eastern time, Sunday. If the shuttle comes here, says NASA, it would land at Edwards at either 10:20 p.m. or 11:55 p.m., Pacific time, Sunday. Check back for updates.

12 chances to see International Space Station fly over Southern California

Here is a link to the story and I love hearing that special sonic boom!

Classic Star Trek Crew Photo

I found a great story about the Star Trek crew taking a photo with Gene Roddenberry and the Space Shuttle Enterprise. From the article:

Thirty-three years ago today, the U.S.S. Enterprise made its maiden voyage after receiving its blessing from the original Star Trek crew.No, not that Enterprise. We're talking about the first space shuttle orbiter, which was named after the most famous ship in Starfleet and which made its first flight test on Feb. 18, 1977, mounted to a Boeing 747, according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel.Here's part of the Sentinel's story:

NASA's first step into the Space Shuttle program was an orbiter named Enterprise, which served as a model for future orbiters Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour. (Though they are often referred to as "space shuttles," an orbiter must be mated to a bright orange external tank and two skinny solid rocket boosters to merit the name.)
I love memories like these, to me, it seems like yesterday the shuttle took off. I guess we will have a lot more memories and old photos to look at throughout this year due to the fact that the space shuttle program ends this year, thus ending the manned space program for NASA..
You can read the entire story HERE:

Tweet to the International Space Station

You will be able to send a tweet to the ISS when the next shuttle Endeavour will dock with the Space Station, and the launch is scheduled for the 7th of February and the Tweets will be sent and answered up until the 11th of this same month. From the article:

The Twitterverse and universe will converge during space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. NASA is inviting the public to send questions for the astronauts via Twitter and have them answered live from space.Astronaut Mike Massimino will be accepting questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, Feb. 11. Massimino will be a shuttle Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, at NASA's Mission Control in Houston during Endeavour's flight, scheduled for launch Feb. 7.

How cool is that! You can read more HERE.

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• Endeavour Set for Sunday Liftoff as Space Shuttle Program Draws to a Close (scientificamerican.com)

An End of an Era for NASA

The final night flight for the space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for the 7th of February 2010, but the year 2010 also marks the last of the space shuttle flights and thus ends an era of the current space shuttle program which began flying and orbiting the Earth in 1981. The space shuttle Columbia made its first trip to outer space the 12th of April 1981 and I remember it as if it were yesterday. The flight was short, only two days, and the landing took place in California, I also remember the double sonic boom! It is amazing that these spacecraft have lasted so long and worked so hard, but it is long overdue that a new line of shuttle is created and put to work, thus the final flight is scheduled for the 31st of May 2010 and you can bet I will watch and feel a little nostalgic and yet look forward to the next generation of spacecraft named Orion which is expected to come into service in the year 2015. I look forward to that day! The design looks interesting and unique and I cannot wait to see it in action.

You can read more HERE.