[sarex] Sonic Boom of Atlantis Heard in CA

[Matt Bennett]

The sonic boom of Atlantis' reentry was heard here in
Irvine, California (about 40 miles south of Los
Angeles). The shuttle flew due west of us, but no
visual contact was established (still around 80,000 ft
up at the time, I believe). The boom shook houses and
set off car alarms near by. What an event!

Matt
KF6RTB


--- Arthur Rowe <azrowe80 at verizon.net> wrote:

> SUBMITTED BY ARTHUR N1ORC - AMSAT A/C #31468
> 
> *Atlantis Lands in California*
> 
> Space shuttle Atlantis descended to a smooth landing
> at Edwards Air 
> Force Base, Calif., concluding a successful assembly
> mission to the 
> International Space Station. With Commander Rick
> Sturckow and Pilot Lee 
> Archambault at the controls, Atlantis landed at 3:49
> p.m. EDT.
> 
> The STS-117 crew began its mission June 8 and
> arrived at the station 
> June 10. They quickly began work to install the
> Starboard 3 and 4 
> (S3/S4) truss structure to the outpost and retracted
> a set of arrays on 
> the Port 6 (P6) truss. The (S3/S4) contains a new
> set of solar arrays 
> that increases station power-generation
> capabilities. The P6 will be 
> relocated during a future assembly mission.
> 
> Mission Specialists Patrick Forrester, John “Danny”
> Olivas, Jim Reilly 
> and Steven Swanson conducted a total of four
> spacewalks to activate the 
> S3/S4 and to retract the P6 arrays. During the third
> spacewalk, Olivas 
> repaired an out of position thermal blanket on the
> left orbital 
> maneuvering system pod.
> 
> Landing also marked the end of a record-setting
> spaceflight by Mission 
> Specialist Suni Williams. She broke the record for
> the longest 
> spaceflight by a woman early in the morning on June
> 16.
> 
> Williams’ journey began in December with the launch
> of STS-116. She 
> lived on the space station for six months before
> switching places on the 
> STS-117 crew with Clayton Anderson, who is now a
> flight engineer on the 
> station. When Atlantis landed, she had accumulated
> 194 days, 18 hours 
> and 58 minutes during her spaceflight.
> 
> STS-117 is the 118th shuttle mission and 21st
> mission to visit the space 
> station. The next mission, STS-118, is slated to
> launch in August.
> ----
> Sent via sarex at amsat.org. Opinions expressed are
> those of the author.
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