Avi Blizovsky
Direct link to this page: https://www.hayadan.org.il/232397336.html
The space shuttle Discovery successfully landed on the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) in the place where it was supposed to land in the first place - the shuttle's landing facility at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Unlike the shuttle landing directly from space, this time the plane with the shuttle carried the coffee of the area and gave the residents of the district Broward a chance to watch the duo.
Cheers from the journalists and Kennedy Space Center employees went up as the wheels of the 747 touched the ground. During the next few hours, the shuttle will gently descend from the back of the plane and touch the ground on its own landing gear wheels.
On Monday (today) the shuttle will be towed by a tractor to the Shuttle Assembly Facility (OPF) when it gets there the cargo compartment doors will be opened and the equipment brought from the International Space Station will be dismantled. Only after the shuttle is transferred to the processing center for preparation for the next flight will the STS-114 mission be declared complete.
The shuttle Discovery is also scheduled to take off for another flight - STS-121 in March 2006. Until then there will be no shuttle flights at all, when NASA personnel will try to solve once and for all the problem of the insulation foam falling from the external fuel tank.
Yadan back to space
NASA's Return to Space website
https://www.hayadan.org.il/BuildaGate4/general2/data_card.php?Cat=~~~232397336~~~188&SiteName=hayadan
