For Powell, a shuttle glance

UPDATE 8:15 a.m., Tuesday: Early risers looking skyward today got a chance to check out the space shuttle Discovery as it approached a successful 7:08 a.m. landing at the Kennedy Space Center in Titusville, Florida.

The shuttle was a small shining dot over Powell, visible to the naked eye, but appearing smaller than the usual passing plane (it was, after all, still 44 miles miles away at its closest point), and moving a heck of a lot faster (doing speeds more than 20 times the speed of sound).

Here's a not-so-compelling photo I took of the distant, hurtling shuttle:

About four minutes after it passed Powell, the sonic booms from the shuttle crossing the sound barrier were clearly audible. There was first a bang that sounded like a far-off gun shot or firework, followed by rumbling that sounded a bit like rolling thunder. It was enough to get some dogs barking in town, I'm told.

It was a special experience for Powell to have the shuttle pass almost directly overhead, because, as noted below, it's likely the last time in the foreseeable future that a shuttle will cross the U.S. You should also thank Florida's rainy weather for the overhead visit: had NASA been able to land Discovery on either of the two opportunities on Monday - or the first chance on Tuesday - it would have been much tougher to get a look at a the shuttle.

Monday night's earlier post follows:

Depending on the weather at the Kennedy Space Center, folks in Powell could get either a small glimpse of a far-off shuttle just above the horizon or a pretty impressive overhead sight. Or they could see nothing at all.

While rainy and cloudy conditions scrapped today's planned landing, the forecast for tomorrow is looking pretty good. If it stays that way, the shuttle would re-enter the Earth's atmosphere for a 5:34 a.m. landing. For Powellites, the shuttle would potentially be visible between 5:11 and 5:15 a.m. - with it being some 366 miles away at its closest point.

However, the streaking object would peak at only about four degrees above the northeast horizon. That's likely too low to be seen from your house. Instead, you'd probably need to get up on Polecat Bench or Coal Miner's Hill to be able to see it, a reliable source told the Trib. For the record, that's not going to be enough to get this Tribune writer out of bed that early.

Here's the cooler news: if for some reason Discovery is unable to make its first entry opportunity tomorrow -- early morning rain, etc. -- the flight path would change for the second landing opportunity. And that path would take the shuttle pretty close to Powell's airspace. The glowing shuttle would be visible from 6:46 to 6:50 a.m., peaking at 73.5 degrees on the horizon. It would be "just" 44 miles away at its closest point. A sonic boom would follow. (I don't know if there would be a boom if the first opportunity is taken).

To make a long post short, space geeks, pray for some crappy weather in Florida -- but only until the first landing opportunity has passed. Because if it lasts, the shuttle will instead land in Edward Air Force Base in California. And they'll be no chance of catching a glimpse of the shuttle then.

This is an extremely limited time offer. There are only three more shuttle launches remaining for the canceled shuttle program -- and none of those missions are expected to cross the U.S. as they come in for landing.