Welcome home, Discovery!

[RICHARD]

What a great flight!!

The sonic boom over Lost Angeles was loud, crisp and it shook the house...

Job well done and wow, what a way to let eveyone know you are in town...............................

[Barbara]

Oh could you hear it?

I am jealous!


Great they are back safe

[Karen]

Welcome home safe, folks.

[Cinder & Smoke]

Welcome Home, STS-114 / Discovery!!

and ...

THANKS, God!

[lizbud]

I'm so glad they all made it home safely. I was really concerned about this flight after the missing tiles incident.

Great job.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

Glad they are all home safe - would any of you want to do it? I know I wouldn't

[Barbara]

I was worried too. If something happened in this case we wouldn't have had Richard (Feynman) around to find the reason.

[lvpets2002]

Yes many welcomes home Discover

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Big Chicken that I am, I couldn't watch it land and after I learned it made it safely, I cried. I'm so glad they got back safe!!!!!!

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I was watching it on Good Morning America. Couldn't help a few tears from leaking out after first the rear landing gear touched down, then front landing gear - whew!

I was wondering about the sonic boom. Thanks Richard. Just wish I could have heard it too.

My favorite report was on public radio. One of the reporters who are "assigned" to NASA news was saying how the crew of the shuttle and the ground crew are so well trained, and have gone over and over what to do next, that it's hard for us "lay" people to understand how they do it without feeling emotion. He said he can hear the emotion in their voices, it's just an ever so slight crack at the beginning and end of their statments, like when the ground crew said "Welcome Home", then Eileen said "Thanks" you could hear the relief, but then they're immediately back to business.

[NoahsMommy]

Aww, I tried so hard to stay awake for it. I love hearing that sonic boom.

So happy they're home safe.

[Killearn Kitties]

Good news! I'm glad they made it back safely!

[joycenalex]

i was holding my breath and a few tears of joy for them and sadness for our missing heros. sleep well tonight

[Chica]

Yeah, the sonic boom was loud and scared me at first. I thought it was an earthquake. Then my next thought was the shuttle landing today. Oh good, not a quake!!!!!

[RICHARD]

There was some guy walking the driveway with a pair of binoculars combing the driveway at 4:30 this morning.

The sonic boom is a real treat, if you know it's coming.....

There are two BOOMS, the first for the nose and the tail.

Because of the cool night air and the hour, I was able to hear the echo of the booms across the valley...

In sequence it sounds like this boom-BOOOM!

You can feel the first boom push outward' a split second later the second boom feels like it pushes the ground down.

If you have ever been close to a fireworks show where you can feel the thump of shells blowing up, you multiply that by 100 and you get a space shuttle sonic boom..


--------------------------------------------

I posted this story a while back....

End of the World shuttle story..

Growing up in Southern Cal you see and hear a few things in the air, It used to be the center of air technology in the 70s, 80's and early 90's..

One thing that scares to poop out of you are earthquakes and sonic booms - the booms because you THINK they are earthquakes in the making.

Just south of Edwards Air Force Base, about 30 miles as the crow flies, is a set of mountains that separate Los Angeles County from the beginning of the desert area where the base is located..

We had spent the day on a ride through the hills and spotted at a picnic site where we stopped to have lunch. About
20 minutes later there was a huge BOOM and
what sounded like electricty bouncing around all around us.

My heart sank in my chest because I thought it was the start of an earthquake but I had never heard the 'bouncing electricity' noise......

It only took me a second to think that the world was going to end.......

As the noise echoed off into the distance I looked at my friends and they had a look on their faces that probably was the same as mine....

In unison they asked, 'What the #%8& was THAT?'

After about 10 seconds I remembered that the shuttle was scheduled to land 30 miles away....

The echoes across, and in betweenthe hills are something that defy description.

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http://www.edwards.af.mil/