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Last space shuttle launch

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Grisha
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08 Jul 2011, 5:01 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:
Grisha wrote:
Any idea if Atlantis is scheduled to land in California? I know it probably isn't unless there's supposed to be bad weather in Florida, but if it does I will run out to Edwards AFB to see it...


I don't know. Predicting the weather twelve days out is less reliable than fortune cookies though.

Any news about the landing zone will probably be here though: http://www.space.com/12046-nasa-space-s ... ts135.html

July 20th will be reentry and landing though, regardless of where, as far as I can know about it.


That's awesome, I'll check it when the time gets closer - I always wanted to go see a landing but always figured there'd be another chance...



MXH
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08 Jul 2011, 5:15 pm

Honestly grisha, theres 3 different low pressure systems working together here to keep it overcast and rainy. Id bet money on edwards being used.



SabbraCadabra
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09 Jul 2011, 9:10 am

I was told they were going to stop sending shuttles because it was a lot more economical to send rockets instead (or something along those lines, basically they would be using rockets from now on).

Is this untrue?


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iamnotaparakeet
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09 Jul 2011, 5:16 pm

SabbraCadabra wrote:
I was told they were going to stop sending shuttles because it was a lot more economical to send rockets instead (or something along those lines, basically they would be using rockets from now on).

Is this untrue?


I thought it was because they have been in nearly continuous use since the 1980's and they wanted to retire them rather than eventually burn the current fleet up in atmospheric reentry. The main thing about the shuttles, economically, were that they were reusable. It may be more cost effective to use plain rockets or it may not be, I don't know.