[The South Park Republican]

Care to dumb that down for those of us who can't comprehend speeds like that, and don't understand avionics?

[alancarp]

Kinda like popping a wheelie while using a hurricane to slow your fall off of a cliff.

[Moose4]

One minute and 26 seconds before the shuttle touches the runway, it's still over two miles up in the air and moving 425 mph. A 22,000 fpm descent rate, like the paragraph says, is about 30 times what an airliner uses on final approach. 22,000 feet per minute = roughly 4 miles per minute = 240 mph straight down.

Terminal velocity for a skydiver is 120-180 mph, straight down.

In other words, it's damn near falling out of the sky. It really does glide like a brick. Apparently what they do, is keep that high descent rate up, and then at the last second, pull back on the stick to gain more lift, slow the orbiter, and greatly slow the descent. It's the same maneuver airliners do when they pitch up right before landing, called a "flare".

The 210 mph landing speed is about half again as fast as a fully-loaded 747, I think.

Oh yeah, and the worst part? If something screws up, there's no second chance, no going around. It's going to come back to Earth, one way or the other. All they're trying to do is aim it and make the landing soft.

}:-)4