Rare Space Shuttle Re-Entry Over The continental United States

The space shuttle Discovery will make a rare descending node reentry over the continental United States On Monday morning, April 19th. The shuttle will pass over many cities on its rentry to landing in Florida at 8:48 am EDT. the cities and towns include Fort Peck Lake, Montana; Pierre, South Dakota; Sioux City, Iowa; St. Louis, Missouri; Tupelo, Mississippi, Birmingham, Alabama, and Jacksonville, Florida. If you can't see the shuttle you may be able to hear it. The shuttle produces a sonic double-boom that reaches the ground about a minute and a half after passing overhead.

STS-131 Landing Ground Tracks to Kennedy Space Center on Orbit 222

Here are the milestone geographic points that space shuttle Discovery will fly over for its first landing opportunity:

1. South of the Queen Charlotte Islands (western Canada)

2. Over British Columbia, northeast of Vancouver

3. Over southern Alberta province

4. Over Montana, flying over Fort Peck Lake (Mach 22)

5. Across the western border of North Dakota, then over

northern South Dakota tracking northwest to southeast,

directly over the capital of Pierre

6. Across Iowa directly over Sioux City and southwest of

Des Moines and Council Bluffs, Iowa (Mach 18)

7. Over the heart of Missouri, between Kansas City and

St. Louis (Mach 16)

8. Over the eastern border of Arkansas and Tennessee,

east of Memphis (Mach 14)

9. Over NE Mississippi, northeast of Tupelo (Mach 12)

10. Over Alabama tracking northwest to southeast from

Birmingham to Columbus, Georgia (Mach 10)

11. Over southwest Georgia south of Americus

12. Over Florida, almost directly over Jacksonville (Mach 4)

13. West of St. Augustine and Daytona Beach, onto KSC

You can read more at:

Spaceweather.com