Kids get close to space at NASA visit to NAS

The little boy needed to know.

"What happens if the shuttle lands in the water on the way back?" Truette Stubbs, 6, asked, waving his hand feverishly in the air.

"Well, we tell the astronauts that they better land on the runway or else the alligators in the water will get them," George Haddad of NASA said.

"But we have some great pilots," he added, "and you could be one of them some day if you pursue your dreams."

Haddad, who has worked at NASA since 1989 and been involved with several shuttle missions, was the guest speaker Saturday at the National Museum of Naval Aviation. His presentation, "NASA's Past, Present and Future" was part of Space Day, one of the Discovery Saturday events at the museum. The event also included the showing of the movie "Hubble" in the IMAX theater, an opportunity to taste astronaut food, Haddad's hour-long presentation and the chance for children to build paper rockets and launch them into the atrium alongside retired Blue Angels jets.

Many of those in attendance wanted to satisfy their curiosity about the direction of the space program after the return of space shuttle Atlantis on Thursday.

Carl Breland was a child in 1969 when Neil Armstrong became the first man to step on the moon. He has fond memories of gathering around the television to watch the historic event.

"When I was younger, everyone wanted to be an astronaut," Breland said. "We have a lot invested in space, and I don't know where we go from here with the landing of Atlantis."

Many at the event shared the same concern as Breland, but Haddad assured them that NASA simply is in transition.

"Although the shuttle program is ending, as all great things do, we are still pushing forward," he said. "We are still going to continue space exploration and space flight."

Haddad said NASA is planning a replacement shuttle for Atlantis. Haddad said the next generation of shuttle will be smaller and easier to launch and maintain.

"It was truly amazing what we did with the space shuttle program," he said. "We completed 135 extremely beneficial missions, and we are going to continue working on the future shuttle in hopes of many more missions."

Shuttle Atlantis on track for final touchdown

Awakened by the rousing strains of Kate Smith's "God Bless America," the Atlantis astronauts rigged the shuttle for its final re-entry to close out three decades of American manned spaceflight. There were no technical problems of any significance and forecasters predicted ideal weather for reentry.

"Good morning, Atlantis," astronaut Shannon Lucid radioed from mission control late Wednesday. "The wakeup music this morning was for the entire crew, and it was also for all the men and women who put their heart and soul into the shuttle program for all of these years."

"Thanks, Shannon, what a classic patriotic song, it's so appropriate for what will likely be the shuttle's final day in orbit," commander Christopher Ferguson replied from orbit. "Thank you to America for supporting this program. We'll see you on the ground in a few short hours, hopefully."

Flying upside down and backward over the Indian Ocean, Ferguson and pilot Douglas "Chunky" Hurley planned to fire the shuttle's twin braking rockets for three minutes and 17 seconds starting at 4:49:04 a.m. EDT, slowing the ship by about 223 miles per hour to drop out of orbit and set up a landing on runway 15 at 5:56 a.m.

A second landing opportunity is available one orbit later, at 7:32:55 a.m. if the weather or some other issue prevents an on-time re-entry. NASA is not staffing its backup landing site at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. If Atlantis doesn't make it home Thursday, the crew will remain in orbit an additional day and land Friday.

But the weather appeared ideal early Thursday and entry Flight Director Tony Ceccacci was optimistic about bringing Atlantis' 33rd and final mission to a close.

Assuming an on-time deorbit rocket firing, the shuttle will plunge into the discernible atmosphere at an altitude of about 75 miles above the southern Pacific Ocean around 5:25 a.m., enduring the hellish heat of re-entry as it descends along a northeasterly trajectory back toward the Kennedy Space Center.

The flight path will carry Atlantis high above Central America, across the Gulf of Mexico just west of Cuba and on to Florida, approaching the Kennedy Space Center from the southwest.

Ferguson plans to take over manual control at an altitude of about 50,000 feet above the Space Coast, guiding the shuttle through a sweeping 240-degree left turn to line up on runway 15 for the shuttle program's final landing.