Touch Down!
The space shuttle orbiter Challenger (STS-8) makes the first nighttime landing of the Space Transportation System as it touches down on Runway 22 at 12:40 am PDT at the end of a six-day mission. Aboard the shuttle are: Richard H. Truly, commander; Daniel Brandenstein, pilot; and mission specialists Guion S. Bluford, Dale A. Gardner and Dr. William E. Thornton, 09/05/1983
And I get nervous during airplane landings.
From How Space Shuttles Work:
For a successful return to Earth and landing, dozens of things have to go just right.
First, the orbiter must be maneuvered into the proper position. This is crucial to a safe landing.
When a mission is finished and the shuttle is halfway around the world from the landing site (Kennedy Space Center, Edwards Air Force Base), mission control gives the command to come home, which prompts the crew to:
- Close the cargo bay doors. In most cases, they have been flying nose-first and upside down, so they then fire the RCS thrusters to turn the orbiter tail first.
- Once the orbiter is tail first, the crew fires the OMS engines to slow the orbiter down and fall back to Earth; it will take about 25 minutes before the shuttle reaches the upper atmosphere.
- During that time, the crew fires the RCS thrusters to pitch the orbiter over so that the bottom of the orbiter faces the atmosphere (about 40 degrees) and they are moving nose first again.
- Finally, they burn leftover fuel from the forward RCS as a safety precaution because this area encounters the highest heat of re-entry.
Because it is moving at about 17,000 mph (28,000 km/h), the orbiter hits air molecules and builds up heat from friction (approximately 3000 degrees F, or 1650 degrees C). The orbiter is covered with ceramic insulating materials designed to protect it from this heat.
