A big surprise for us today as the Space Shuttle Discovery came in overhead Acadiana at about 4:20pm this afternoon.  Unfortunately the cirrostratus clouds remained thick and did not clear out so we couldn’t see the plasma trail. But we did hear the sonic boom at 4:22pm this afternoon. The shuttle landed just 10 minutes later. NASA was stuck with marginal weather and showers at the Kennedy Space Center this afternoon so they bypassed the first landing opportunity to Florida. The second landing opportunity was to Edwards Air Force Base in California, but unpredictable cross winds pushed NASA to look at White Sands in New Mexico, but increasing cloud cover and strong winds, combined with limited resources pushed NASA back to looking at Florida. Even though there were plenty of showers, layered clouds, and darkness was descending on the area, the decision was made to land in Florida. The landing ground track on this opportunity brought the shuttle in right overhead across the I-10
corridor. The last time that happened was when Columbia tried to return in February 2003.   When the shuttle flies space station missions, the normal landing trajectory takes the craft over Central America, across the southeastern Gulf and then into Florida. The landing trajectory over us usually involves a missed first opportunity, or the shuttle is flying a non-space station mission, like servicing the Hubble Telescope or other science missions. So we were at least lucky enough to hear the sonic boom this afternoon, even though there was no visual identification. Based on the shuttle telemetry, Discovery was passing across southern Louisiana at roughly 40-50 miles high; decelerating from Mach 12 to Mach 8…that’s about 10,000mph down to 5,000mph! Roughly 8 minutes after clearing New Orleans, the craft lands at Kennedy….cool stuff!  There won’t be many more opportunities for us to see this marvelous event, but hopefully when NASA services the Hubble Telescope we’ll get another chance.Â
Weather-wise, expect dry and cool conditions through tomorrow night, wet and chilly conditions for Christmas Eve, with partly cloudy and cool conditions for Christmas Day.  Merry Christmas! RobÂ