Due to inclement weather today in Florida the Space Shuttle Endeavour (Orbiter Vehicle Designation OV-105), returning from mission STS-126, was diverted to the backup landing option at Edwards Air Force Base near Rosamond, CA (approximately 100 miles northeast of Los Angeles in the Antelope Valley).
In total, the shuttle’s journey spanned 6.6 million miles and 250 orbits of Earth. Endeavour landed on temporary runway 22L at Edwards, while the main runway, 4R, is undergoing repairs — making it the first and last shuttle to do so. This was the 124th space shuttle mission, the 22nd flight for the shuttle Endeavour and the 27th shuttle visit to the station. It was also the 52nd time a shuttle has landed at Edwards Air Force Base.
It will take approximately one week to prepare the shuttle for its return flight to Florida atop a modified 747 (called the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft) and will cost approximately $1.8 million. Another unexpected item to add to the cost of this mission: a bag of tools valued at $100,000 dropped and forever lost by Astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn-Piper during the first space walk of the mission. The crew will be flown back to Johnson Space Center in Houston tomorrow.
I was able to record the double sonic booms the shuttle made upon re-entry with my Palm Centro and have embeded the file below — they sound like a cross between a shotgun and car backfiring, but were so loud in person that my entire house shook!
Below is the audio of the two sonic booms that occured during the shuttle’s re-entry (click the arrow). The original recording was a “QCP” file but I easily converted it to an MP3 file at the website Media-Convert.com and then I edited down the file to its present length using a program called “MP3 Cutter” which I found on Download.com.
As a special treat, I sent the file above to my father-in-law, pianist and composer Mike Garson, to see what creative inspiration he might gleen from this event. I also asked him what notes the sonic booms were closest to, as they sound musical to me (like a drum beat): His opinion is that the first boom was an “F” and the second boom was also an “F” but was an octave lower. He prepared the “Endeavour Groove” (available below) as an MP3 file in the key of “F” for that reason — enjoy (once again click the arrow):
Finally, here is video of the actual landing from the Associated Press:
Welcome back, Endeavour, and congratulations on a safe return from space!
