Aalice.162 net.columbia utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!research!alice!sjb Sat Nov 14 17:27:17 1981 SHUTTLE LANDING FLAWLESS The Columbia sailed home today to a flawless landing, described by some as better than the last time, at Rogers Dry Lake, Edwards Air Force Base in California. Right on time the shuttle glided in (falling like a rock) to a smooth landing. Though Joe Engle was able to complete some of the maneuvers planned to test the shuttle's handling, he could not perform the crosswinds testing as the headwinds were too strong. The orbiter is to be flown piggyback on a modified 747 back to Cape Canaveral, via Houston, in 9 days. There it will be extensively examined, fitted with a new external tank and two new SRB's (the ones used in this flight will be reused in the future), and prepared for an early March, 1982, lift off for STS-3. Meanwhile, divers were successful in filling on of the bobbing SRB's, which have now drifted about 50 miles closer to Cape Canaveral, with air but could not get to the other one. Even if they did it today, they would have to wait until tomorrow to tow them back to the Cape. Refurbishment costs are estimated at $14.1 millions a piece, as opposed to $50 million for buying a new one. ----------------------------------------------------------------- gopher://quux.org/ conversion by John Goerzen of http://communication.ucsd.edu/A-News/ This Usenet Oldnews Archive article may be copied and distributed freely, provided: 1. There is no money collected for the text(s) of the articles. 2. The following notice remains appended to each copy: The Usenet Oldnews Archive: Compilation Copyright (C) 1981, 1996 Bruce Jones, Henry Spencer, David Wiseman.