---------original article (which I had far too much fun composing------------
Space Shuttle alert! Discovery is scheduled to land tomorrow (Monday) morning in Florida at 7:48 Central Daylight Time. An unusual flight path will bring the shuttle right across South Dakota! So just after 7 a.m. (6 a.m. Mountain), get outside and look!
Current forecast for Madison, SD: partly cloudy. Come on, clear skies for breakfast! One mapthis map says the shuttle kittywampiflies NW to SE right across South Dakota:
shows the shuttle crossing our state's southwest corner, but I hope Discovery isn't taking bearings from the apparent position of Sioux City on this map. This PDF from NASA insists Discovery will pass directly over Pierre and Sioux City.
Check out those speeds: Mach 20 over Pierre! Mach 20! Discovery can cover that diagonal route across South Dakota in less than two minutes. On I-90, Mach 20 gets you across South Dakota in 90 seconds. That gets you from Lincoln High School to the Empire Mall in one second.
If Discovery gets a go for landing on its first good window tomorrow, it'll flip, fire engines, and drop into the atmosphere over the Pacific at 7:17 a.m. Central Daylight Time. Montana (Larry! That's you!) will get a good look shortly thereafter. If the sun's not up yet out west, you'll get to see the big plasma trail! Whoosh!
Here in South Dakota, the sun will be up, but we may still get some glow... and sonic booms! So after 7:15 a.m., turn down your snap-crackle-pop and look and listen out the window. Space shuttle a-comin'!
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Update 22:50 CDT: Shuttle visibility from Madison, SD: 7:28 to 7:33 a.m.!
- As viewed from an open field, Discovery will pop over our horizon toward the WNW at 7:28. Of course, at that point it will be 575 miles away.
- At its nearest point to Madison, 88 miles away at 7:30:38, the shuttle will be close to straight SW, about 26 degrees up frmo the horizon.
- Discovery drops below Madison's horizon close to straight SE at 7:33.
Here's the chart for Madison:
Local Time | Azimuth | Elevation | Range |
HH:MM:SS | Deg E of N | Deg | Miles |
07:28:20 | 300.2 | 0.2 | 575 |
07:28:20 | 299.5 | 1.1 | 513 |
07:28:51 | 298.7 | 2.2 | 452 |
07:29:06 | 297.5 | 3.4 | 391 |
07:29:22 | 295.7 | 4.9 | 331 |
07:29:37 | 293 | 6.9 | 273 |
07:29:52 | 288.8 | 9.5 | 217 |
07:30:08 | 281.5 | 13.5 | 163 |
07:30:23 | 267.1 | 19.6 | 117 |
07:30:38 | 237 | 26.8 | 88 |
07:30:54 | 196.1 | 25.2 | 92 |
07:31:09 | 171 | 17.7 | 125 |
07:31:24 | 159.1 | 12.2 | 171 |
07:31:40 | 152.8 | 8.7 | 220 |
07:31:55 | 149.2 | 6.3 | 270 |
07:32:11 | 147 | 4.6 | 321 |
07:32:26 | 145.6 | 3.2 | 372 |
07:32:41 | 144.7 | 2.1 | 421 |
07:32:57 | 144.1 | 1.1 | 470 |
07:33:12 | 143.8 | 0.3 | 518 |
Also at 07:30:38, the shuttle will fly almost directly over Corsica, SD. No need to duck: Discovery's altitude will be about 40 miles. (I checked that with the Pythagorean theorem—sounds about right!)
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