page_title: Space Shuttle
section_title: Re-entry and landing
hierarchical_section_title: Space Shuttle / Mission profile / Re-entry and landing
caption_attribution_description: English: Space Shuttle Discovery's drag chute is deployed as the spacecraft rolls toward wheels stop on runway 15 of the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, concluding the 14-day STS-124 mission to the International Space Station. Onboard are NASA astronauts Mark Kelly, commander; Ken Ham, pilot; Mike Fossum, Ron Garan, Karen Nyberg, Garrett Reisman and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, all mission specialists. The main landing gear touched down at 11:15:19 a.m. (EDT) on June 14, 2008. The nose landing gear touched down at 11:15:30 a.m. and wheel stop was at 11:16:19 a.m. During the mission, Discovery's crew installed the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's large Kibo laboratory and its remote manipulator system leaving a larger space station and one with increased science capabilities.
context_page_description: The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system that was operated from 1981 to 2011 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System, taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft of which it was the only item funded for development. The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, Interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope; conducted science experiments in orbit; and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station. The Space Shuttle fleet's total mission time was 1322 days, 19 hours, 21 minutes and 23 seconds.
context_section_description: Approximately four hours prior to deorbit, the crew began preparing the orbiter vehicle for reentry by closing the payload doors, radiating excess heat, and retracting the Ku band antenna. The orbiter vehicle maneuvered to an upside down, tail first orientation and began a 2-4 minute OMS burn approximately 20 minutes before it reentered the atmosphere. The orbiter vehicle reoriented itself to a nose-forward position with a 40° angle-of-attack, and the forward RCS jets were emptied of fuel and disabled prior to reentry. The orbiter vehicle's reentry was defined as starting at an altitude 120 km (400,000 ft), when it was traveling approximately Mach 25.  The orbiter vehicle's reentry was controlled by the GPCs, which followed a preset angle-of-attack plan to prevent unsafe heating of the TPS. The GPCs also controlled the multiple aerobraking S-turns, using only the roll axis, to dissipate excess speed without changing the angle-of-attack.
  The orbiter vehicle's aft RCS jets were disabled as it descended and its ailerons, elevators, and rudder became effective in the lower atmosphere. At an altitude of 46 km (150,000 ft), the orbiter vehicle opened its speed brake on the vertical stabilizer. At 8 minutes 44 seconds prior to landing, the crew deployed the air data probes, and began lowering the angle-of-attack to 36°.  The orbiter's maximum glide ratio/lift-to-drag ratio varied considerably with speed, ranging from 1.3 at hypersonic speeds to 4.9 at subsonic speeds. The orbiter vehicle flew to one of the two Heading Alignment Cones, located 48 km (30 mi)  away from each end of the runway's centerline, where it made its final turns to dissipate excess energy prior to its approach and landing. Once the orbiter vehicle was traveling subsonically, the crew took over manual control of the flight.
  The approach and landing phase began when the orbiter vehicle was at an altitude of 3,000 m (10,000 ft) and traveling at 150 m/s (300 kn). the orbiter vehicle followed either a -20° or -18° glideslope and descended at approximately 51 m/s (167 ft/s).  The speed brake was used to keep a continuous speed, and crew initiated a pre-flare maneuver to a -1.5° glideslope at an altitude of 610 m (2,000 ft).  The landing gear was deployed 10 seconds prior to touchdown, when the orbiter was at an altitude of 91 m (300 ft) and traveling 150 m/s (288 kn). A final flare maneuver reduced the orbiter vehicle's descent rate to 0.9 m/s (3 ft/s), with touchdown occurring at 100–150 m/s (195–295 kn), depending on the weight of the orbiter vehicle. After the landing gear touched down, the crew deployed a drag chute out of the vertical stabilizer, and began wheel braking when the orbiter vehicle was traveling slower than 72 m/s (140 kn). After wheels stop, the crew deactivated the flight components and prepared to exit.
caption: Discovery deploying its brake parachute after landing on STS-124
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