Hi All, I'm trying to estimate when my coworkers and I should be able to hear the double sonic boom from Discovery this afternoon, assuming the 1:59pm PDT landing at Edwards AFB. We'll be in Torrance (about 33.84 north, 118.31 west). As near as I can make out from the map at www.spaceflightnow.com, the closest approach of the ground track to our location will be about 28 +/- 2 miles. If I assume an altitude of 60,000 feet at that time (a total guess), then the slant range is about 30 miles. So the shock wave would take roughly 2 1/2 minutes to get to us. In that amount of time, the Shuttle will have covered more than half the remaining distance to Edwards, with perhaps two minutes left to go before landing. So 1:57 pm seems like a good guess. Does anyone have an estimate of the time that the ground track first crosses the CA coast, and what the altitude of Discovery is at that time? Thanks! --Rob ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www2.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Oct 24 2000 - 10:19:05 PDT