Shuttle Update

What Goes Up Must Come Down
Or so goes the saying. NASA of course delayed the shuttle re-entry for 24 hours .

"We are going to officially wave you off for 24 hours," shuttle communicator Ken Ham told Eileen Collins, commander of Discovery. The shuttle crew are unlikely to be disappointed, said astronaut Mark Polanski, in Florida to watch the landing: "A bad day in space is better than any day on Earth."

The weather forecast for Florida on Tuesday still predicts a slight chance of rain. If weather conditions remain unsuitable, the shuttle could also land at Edwards Air Force base in California - where the weather forecast is excellent - or even at White Sands in New Mexico. NASA prefers not to land in these western locations as the shuttle then has to be transported back to Florida for its next launch at a cost of millions of dollars.

In theory the shuttle could remain in space until Wednesday, but NASA will be extremely reluctant to leave the shuttle in orbit until then, as it would then be forced to land whatever the weather. It is therefore all but certain that Discovery will land in Tuesday.

The touchdown will be the first since Columbia disintegrated during re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere in February 2003, and is certain to jangle nerves at NASA and beyond.

Damp Night

Earlier on Monday, practice touchdowns by the Shuttle Training Aircraft at the Florida landing strip helped evaluate the weather, and found a deck of broken cloud at 300 metres (1000 feet) altitude. This could restrict the returning shuttle's view of the well-lit runway, and so entry flight director Leroy Cain chose to delay the landing.

The weather around the space center had been damp for most of the night.

Rain prevents a landing as the moisture damages the heat shield tiles. That does not endanger the craft, which would have already experienced the heat of re-entry, but would require repairs before the shuttle's next mission.

Once cleared for landing, Discovery's Orbital Maneuvering System engines begin their de-orbit burn about 90 minutes before touchdown. This marks the start of the fiery descent through the atmosphere. At the end of the three-minute burn, the craft is committed to landing at the chosen site.

So it's no big deal. It's just the weather.

Cowra Visit Part II
The second day of our Cowra visit was to do with the 61st anniversary commemorative events. Or as Geoff put it, 'commercials for Cowra'. We got up early to observe the ceremonies in 3 different locations as well as bugle-calls and speeches. Then it was off to the studios being built in Cowra. For the first time, there was also a wreath laid on behalf of Featherstone, NZ where a similar turn of events took place albeit on a much smaller scale, in 1943. Geoff, being the most prominent and possibly only New Zealander present got asked to lay the wreath at the cemetery. It should be noted that there was a sudden drop in temperature as proceedings got under way at the cemetery.

Basically we were there to check it out, and check it out we did. Brian Burgess swung into his hard-question mode and once again, I was hearing the same questions being fired in two languages at once. I won't go into the details, because that would be too indiscreet, but I will report that Geoff felt that we could start shooting on their premises tomorrow if we had to. That doesn't mean that's what we'll do, but Cowra studio did make a big impression on the team.


The general inspection of the studio was followed by an interview with the News/CAff from PRIME TV with Brian, Brian, Geoff and studio boss, Graham Patrick. The piece aired and went for 90 seconds, which means it was significant local news. Brian Williams also did an interview for ABC radio.


Then it was lunch at the Japanese Gardens with Don Kibbler, the deputy mayor of Cowra and other important dignitaries.
After the lunch, we headed back to Sydney with our heads filled with the things we'd seen and heard. It was a very good fact-finding mission indeed. Hideki seemed quite surprised by the scale and the detail of the Japanese Gardens.

Yankee Season In Doldrums
It's that time of the week where I grumble about the Yanks. First of all, the week saw the Yankees drop a series to the Cleveland Indians, and then squeezed out a series win against the Toronto Blue Jays. What's really annoying was the way the Yankees lost the 2 games pitched by recent arrival Shawn Chacon who pitched quite okay; as well as the 2 rather crappy starts by Randy Johnson; a bad start by Moose; all making the starting rotation seemingly a black hole - as in no-light and all-suck. Al Leiter got a 6-2 win today and Aaron Small picked up his third win on the trot but these fill-in guys aren't supposed to be the ones doing the winning. In the absence of Carl Pavano Tiger Wang and Jaret Wright it's supposed to be Randy, Moose and Shawn (though it was the bullpen that squandered both of Shawn Chacon's good outings). I guess you take any wins you can get, but the pitching situation is looking worse than grim.

Now we find Carl Pavano might need surgery as his shoulder has turned out to be a bigger problem than thought; and Randy might be hurt too. On top of this, the Bosox have been playing well, moving further away in the standings, and the Oakland A's have been securing ground in the Wildcard race as the Yankees played .500 ball this week.
So you can see I've got a lot to grumble about.

The Ashes Series.
I just had a thought while I was watching some of the second Test this week. The Aussies looked tired, bored, lackluster and a little panicky without Glen McGrath. They failed to contain the English bats. In stark contrast, I don't think I've seen a English side as hungry-looking as these guys the Aussies faced. They remind me of the very young 1989 Aussie side that ushered in a decade and a half of Australian dominance. I'm not saying the current crop of English are as talented as that side, but it seemed very clear to me they were as hungry. Unless the Australians find a bit of fight in themselves, they have a real battle on their hands.