On Aug 21, 10:07 am, "hg" wrote:
"nmp" wrote in ...
djarvinen wrote:

I was watching the live pics of STS-118 landing today and noticed that
the landing gear doesn't come down until what appears to be just seconds
(10-15?) before landing.

So what's the procedure if the gear doesn't come down? I'm pretty sure
a go-around isn't an option.

I'm no technologist or expert but even I can figure that one out. The
procedure is: put her down with her belly on the ground, and let's see
what happens. Like you said, there is no alternative either way.

Could be a problem as the orbiter has a flat underside. Sounds like a recipe for a flip-over tail-over-nose.

I was kind of wondering if they had some sort of emergency gear down
procedure; perhaps an explosive type mechanism that would force them
down. But it seems like the time frame is so small, that that kind of
solution might be worse than than no gear down at all.

Certainly they must have some plan, even if it is only 'hang on!'.