(meteorobs) Shuttle re-entry map help please-correction

[Norman W. McLeod III]

>Now that the shuttle is landing in California it appears it will pass 
>directly overhead for me just before landing. Has anyone else been in this 
>position and can it be see/heard on approach during daylight?
>
>Thanks!
>
>Bob Lunsford
>San Diego, CA

Bob,

Several times the shuttle has passed over Fort Myers about 10 minutes 
before landing at Cape Canaveral.  I haven't seen it, clearly too 
high.  Already past the fireballing stage -- Texas and Mexico are in the 
best shape for that.  Hearing it is a load of fun, the booms are so eerie 
coming out of nowhere.  One time I was sitting here at my desk, and the 
booms sounded like two bowling balls dropping onto a sheet of plywood half 
a second apart, plus the sound seemed to be straight over my head.

On another matter, my wife Joan passed away on May 23 from cardiac 
arrest.  It happened on the one day I was away all day at a tax 
meeting.  Am thinking it was better that way, sparing her an ignominious 
encounter with the medical establishment.  I got off the easiest way for 
the situation.  There was no hint of trouble when I left before 7 AM, and 
clues show it must have happened quite soon thereafter.  Just a year 
earlier our priest was dying of cancer -- he had a cardiac arrest, was 
brought back, tubed and wired up, and tied to his bed for a miserable and 
expensive extra month before passing on anyway.  We hoped that would never 
happen to us.  Joan was 76, and I just turned 61.  The rest of this year my 
job will be cleaning up and clearing out the house.

Norman



Norman W. McLeod III
Staff Advisor
American Meteor Society

Fort Myers, Florida
nmcleod at peganet.com