SPACE SHUTTLE MAY SKIRT NEW ORLEANS TONIGHT ON WAY TO KENNEDY SPACE CENTER LANDING
NEW ORLEANS, LA., March 11th, 2002 -- Weather permitting, New Orleans area residents may be able to see the Space Shuttle Columbia early this morning at approximately 3:20 a.m. CST (Tuesday, March 12) as it heads toward a landing at Kennedy Space Center.
Columbia should approach from the West-Northwest at about 15 degrees above the horizon. It will depart to the East-Northeast.
Residents may hear a sonic boom as the shuttle passes over the area. Columbia departed from the Hubble Space Telescope after a successful servicing mission that updated the power and field of the premier telescope.
For more information about the landing tracks, go to http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/groundtracs/index.html
Lockheed Martin Space Systems – Michoud Operations in New Orleans builds the Space Shuttle External Tank that powers the astronauts into space.
