Amarillo gets Rick Husband's Space Shuttle Trainer!

By AZIZA MUSA
aziza.musa@amarillo.com
A space shuttle training aircraft once piloted by Rick Husband is taking one last flight — to Amarillo.

Because NASA has discontinued the shuttle program, the training aircraft is no longer needed, said Richard Clark, chief of aircraft operations at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The space agency had four training aircraft and gave one to the Texas Air & Space Museum, 10001 American Drive, near Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport.

NASA officials are scheduled to deliver it Thursday from Houston, and a few days later the aircraft will be available for public viewing, museum operations manager Richard Warner said.

Warner said all shuttle pilots, including Husband, trained using the aircraft.

Husband, an Amarillo native, was commander of the space shuttle Columbia’s final mission. Husband and six other astronauts died Feb. 1, 2003, when the shuttle broke up while re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.

Museum Board President Ron Fernuik said the aircraft is a significant gift to the city because it is “bringing one of our own home.”

“This gives us a tangible part of the space program in Amarillo,” he said. “It allows us to be a part of what Rick Husband was and what he was trying to do.”

The aircraft was upgraded from its original production version — a Grumman Gulfstream II — to simulate the space shuttle, Fernuik said.

The pilot’s side of the cockpit was revamped to emulate the controls and visuals an astronaut would use, he said.

Exclusive! White Triangle Over Amarillo- Stealth Airship?

Click to enlarge:



Myself and a group of local aviation photographers were having our usual Saturday lunch at Rick Husband /Amarillo Airport when we spotted a strange object in the sky

In our group was a cop - three were computer techs (including myself) another was a NWS employee - a meteorology student (who works at the local National Weather Service ) - one was a teacher - another is an Amarillo Emergency Service volunteer.

That said - we call ourselves ASAP - for Amarillo Society of Aviation Photographers. We meet almost every Saturday to have lunch and photograph what ever pops into the airport.

Saturday was no exception - and in fact we were treated to a visit (quick turn) by two F/A 18s - one painted in Russian Aggressor colors and an E2C Hawkeye. Not to mention we shot photos of the one of many V-22s out on test hops from the Bell Textron plant just up the road.

One of the photogs (Jay McCoy) caught sight of a glint - way up in the atmosphere and said, "What the heck is that?"

We all turned to see it. It was almost straight up - maybe five degrees off 12:00 o'clock position a little to our west.

Whatever it was it looked much higher than the common NASA weather balloons (launched from Fort Sumner, New Mexico) that sometimes drift over Amarillo - the last one we I saw was 119,000 feet. This object looked much higher.

The object was almost in the sun - but it glinted bright.

At first sight I thought it was a star visible in daylight - and not much more.

Someone in the group suggested it was the ISS - but it appeared not to be moving - only glinting.

You could not tell what it was with the naked eye - or a 300mm lens for that matter - but it was very bright.

I raised my camera and since I was the only one with a decent telephoto - I was the only one to take a photo.

I couldn't see anymore detail on full zoom - but shot two frames anyway.

I was backing up to get a better view of it - and promptly fell off a concrete step (about a drop of two feet) almost loosing my camera. Fell right on my arse I did.

Everyone helped me up - asked if I was OK - I was.

I was more concerned about protecting my camera gear than myself. I only suffered a sore ankle and some wounded pride.

Anyway, once my dignity had been restored - we all looked up back up into the sky - we could no longer see the object. Either clouds that were moving in obscured it - or it had otherwise left our view.

I didn't think much more about it - until I got home and loaded up the images into my computer.

TECH DETAILS:

Camera; Nikon D-70S with 70 to 300mm ED lens

Full EXIF data and the raw images are available on request for analysis by qualified persons and media.

LINK FOR FULL SIZE PHOTO # 1

LINK FOR FULL SIZE PHOTO # 2 HERE

All images copyright (C) Steve Douglass and require permission for re-posting or publication.


Comparison photo: Southwest Airlines 737 at 30,000 feet - Lens focal length : 240mm
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Comparison photo # 2 AIRBUS 380 at 35,000 feet - focal length 290mm.
click to enlarge:

Mirage fighter colides with Lithuanian jet trainer

(CNN) -- A French Mirage 2000 jet fighter collided with a Lithuanian plane during a training mission Tuesday in Lithuania, the French Defense Ministry said.

No one was hurt during the training exercise at an air force base in Siauliai, Northern Lithuania, military officials from both countries said.

Two French jet fighters and and a Lithuanian jet trainer were in the air when one of the jet fighters collided with the Lithuanian plane, officials said.
Both pilots of the Lithuanian L-39 Albatross ejected and are safe. Their plane crashed.
The French jet landed, Lithuanian officials said.

Space Station may have to be abandoned

The failure of a Soyuz rocket to send a supply ship into space last week may mean that the International Space Station will have to be temporarily abandoned for the first time since 2000, Florida Today reports.

Russian space vehicles are the only means of ferrying crews and supplies to the station now that the U.S. space shuttle program has ended.

Last week, the third-stage failure of a Soyuz rocket sent an unmanned Progress supply ship crashing into Siberia.

As a result, plans to launch a new crew to the station on Sept. 21 have been postponed indefinitely while Russian officials investigate why the rocket failed.

Mike Suffredini, NASA's program manager for the space station, says two factors could now force the temporary abandonment of the station, the newspaper reports.

First, is the imminent expiration date of the "certified orbital lifetimes" of two Soyuz "lifeboats" now attached to the station. The second involves flight rules that call for crews to return to Earth during daylight.

Three of the crewmembers aboard the station -- two Russians and an American -- have already delayed their planned Sept. 8 return by a week while the probee continues.

They will likely return before Sept. 19 -- the last daylight landing opportunity that month in the central steppes of Kazakhstan, Florida Today reports.

The next opportunity would not come until Oct. 27, about 10 days beyond the 200-day "certified orbital lifetime" of their Soyuz taxi back home.

The remaining three crew members need to return before Nov. 19 -- the last daylight landing opportunity that month.

Otherwise, the certified life of their Soyuz spacecraft will expire before the next daylight opportunity rolls around in late December, the newspaper says.

Al Qaida #2 - now # none. Killed by US.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Al-Qaida's second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, delivering another big blow to a terrorist group that the U.S. believes to be on the verge of defeat, U.S. officials said Saturday.
The Libyan national had been the network's operational leader before rising to al-Qaida's No. 2 spot after the U.S. killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his Pakistan compound in May.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that al-Qaida's defeat was within reach if the U.S. could mount a string of successful attacks on the group's weakened leadership.
"Now is the moment, following what happened with bin Laden, to put maximum pressure on them," Panetta said, "because I do believe that if we continue this effort we can really cripple al-Qaida as a major threat."
Since bin Laden's death, al-Qaida's structure has been unsettled and U.S. officials have hoped to capitalize on that. The more uncertain the leadership, the harder it is for al-Qaida to operate covertly and plan attacks.

Bin Laden's longtime deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is running the group but is considered a divisive figure who lacks the founder's charisma and ability to galvanize al-Qaida's disparate franchises.
A U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to summarize the government's intelligence on al-Rahman, said al-Rahman's death will make it harder for Zawahiri to oversee what is considered an increasingly weakened organization.

"Zawahiri needed Atiyah's experience and connections to help manage al-Qaida," the official said.
Al-Rahman was killed Aug. 22 in the lawless Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan, according to a senior administration who also insisted on anonymity to discuss intelligence issues.
The official would not say how al-Rahman was killed. But his death came on the same day that a CIA drone strike was reported in Waziristan. Such strikes by unmanned aircraft are Washington's weapon of choice for killing terrorists in the mountainous, hard-to-reach area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.