Since there was only one response to my earlier post...
here's a video of the STS-3 landing..correct me if I'm wrong but
doesn't the landing gear get deployed 19 seconds before touchdown?
Counting from the moment the gear doors open to touchdown, it's only 7
seconds...then the nose almost is rotated down but then comes up
again.. WTF??
http://spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/fe.../sts03_qt.html
seems like this was a "close call"