How to Land the Space Shuttle... from Space
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as an entertaining, technical illustration of how hard the Shuttle's one-shot dead-stick landing was.
What it is
Bret Copeland, in an astronaut costume, gives an energetic talk on how the Space Shuttle landed from orbit, including reentry and the unpowered glide. It includes real-time landing footage with HUD and audio.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2017 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec mholt · 2017-03 · on “The Space-Glider (2000)”
On a related note, I highly, highly recommend this entertaining and technical presentation by Bret Copeland, How to Land the Space Shuttle... From Space: [this video]
Recommends grecy · 2023-02 · on “A Cold War mystery: Why did Jimmy Carter save the space shuttle?”
Here's a cool video of landing the shuttle in real time. The whole landing proceeds unnervingly fast! The actual landing HUD and audio starts at 13:40 [this video]
Cites ben_bai · 2017-02 · on “SpaceX Dragon Rendezvous and Docking Waved Off for Today”
> I don't think the Shuttle landing was particularly problematic. They had a lot of control over the glideslope and lots and lots of runway to work with. I'm sure it's a lot more challenging than the sailplanes I fly, but I wouldn't have any major safety concerns flying on the Shuttle during landing. Well the shuttle is a big heavy glider with little wings. One try, and down from 30,000 feet to ground in 3 minutes. Not problematic, but very special. [this video]
Cites heffay · 2022-01 · on “James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in space, million miles away”
Reminds me of a video I came across last year about about landing the space shuttle and the complexities of it all. [this video]