Picture of the day - September 3, 2005

The Space Shuttle Discovery Flying Home

Photo courtesy of NASA.  America's space shuttles are amazing machines. Their combination of complex flight & guidance systems and raw power make them among the most interesting and dangerous vehicles ever constructed. A space shuttle liftoff can light up the night sky for miles around the launch pad and the landings are pictures of precision and grace. Most Americans have witnessed shuttle launches and landings on television or in person, but relatively few are aware of the method used to transport the returned shuttle from a landing strip out west back to Kennedy Space Center, and that method might surprise you...NASA engineers simply strap the space shuttle onto the back of a Shuttle Carrier Aircraft - a modified Boeing 747! Today's picture shows the Space Shuttle Discovery being carried piggyback from California's Dryden Flight Research Center back to Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 19, 2005. Discovery recently returned safely to earth after a harrowing mission where falling debris during liftoff once again damaged the spacecraft, making re-entry a dangerous proposition. But several unprecedented space walks successfully removed some loose materials that could have caught fire from the friction of the earth's atmosphere. Hopefully, the problem of falling debris can be eliminated in future space shuttle launches so that we can continue using these amazing vehicles until the next generation of spacecraft is ready for use in a few years.   Picture Of The Day Homepage Interesting Articles