ADRENALINE...
FROM THE GROUND UP

The official "The Cape"
Web Site can be found here.

(Anything I've used from the TV show is
owned and copywritten by MTM Enterprises, Inc.)

7th Episode: "Buried In Peace"
Aired week of Oct 28, 1996
and week of Mar 10, 1997

A MISSION TO REPAIR A COMMUNICATIONS SATELLITE TURNS INTO AN EERIE SPACE BURIAL ON 'THE CAPE'

Plot: (pasted from the official "The Cape" Web Site)

A joint U.S. and Russian mission to repair and relaunch a communications satellite is threatened when mission control spots an unidentified object on a dangerous collision course with the Shuttle. The Shuttle crew, lead by Bull Eckert, must identify the object and carefully maneuver to avert disaster. On closer inspection, the object is revealed to be a spacecraft from the 1960s, which Russian cosmonaut Andrei Mikoyan recognizes as Soviet.

With the Russian government refusing to offer any information, Bull and Mikoyan explore the spacecraft more closely. Realizing with dread that the Soviet craft was manned, Mikoyan goes on a spacecraft to look in its windows. He is horrified to see two dead cosmonauts whom he immediately recognizes as a famous Soviet team who disappeared years ago on a tailed mission to the moon. Suddenly, one of the craft¹s old thrusters detonates, seriously endangering Mikoyan. Bull must find a way to both save his comrade as well as provide dignified closure for the dead cosmonauts.

Meanwhile, Tamara St. James' marriage is threatened when her husband, who has had to operate in the shadow of her accomplishments as an astronaut, is offered the job of his dreams in California.

Photos from "Buried In Peace" coming soon!

Shuttle Questions:

During reentry can the crew on the flight deck see any glow from the heat generated due to friction with the atmosphere? Also, does the shuttle experience the same communications blackout during reentry that the Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury capsules did?
The plasma field around the Shuttle is very visible through the windows as we fall into the atmosphere. It starts as flashes of light, and steadies out to an orange-red glow. It’s caused by the reaction of the high-energy vehicle (5 miles/second) ripping electrons from the rarefied gasses in the upper atmosphere.

We don’t get communications blackouts, however, since we have communications relay satellites that our upper antennas can see. They only had ground sites prior to Shuttle. Only if the Shuttle is in a steep roll or pitch maneuver do our antennas get obscured.

Astronaut Chris Hadfield, who flew on the second shuttle mission to dock with Mir, STS-74

Text pasted from the official STS-79 Web Site, under the Ask Mission Control Center Questions section.

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This page was written by Kurt Leucht (kleucht@nyx.net)
Last Revised: Sunday October 31, 1996

Disclaimer: This document in no way represents Nyx or the University of Denver. All opinions and erorrs are mine alone.