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Photos courtesy of NASA and Copyright © CNN
This landing was absolutely the most exciting Space Shuttle landing I have ever watched. As the Shuttle made its final descent, the NASA TV live video feed switched to the “Pilot’s-Eye View”/Heads Up Display (HUD) view onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, and we watched as the Shuttle descended at a descent rate twenty times faster than that of a commercial airliner. That means Space Shuttle pilots have to make descisions and perform actions twenty times faster than a commercial airline pilot.

I captured the following live video stills from NASA TV for posterity, and because CNN did not cut to the landing until the final 10 seconds or so (at least, not online.)

And the NASA TV video feed even had microphones at the landing site, thus allowing us to hear the dual sonic booms (and a late one) caused during Shuttle landing. Barely audible on the broadcast was an enthusiastic “Ohhhh yeeeah!” immediately following the sonic booms.