From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   JF Mezei suggested that ...   
      
   [plot points skipped]   
      
   > Just curious if the vehicle could be a "plane" with enough lift from   
   > delta wings, or whether it was truly limited to a ballistic vehicle with   
   > controlled fall and a last minute ability to slow descent rate just   
   > above runway?  (do they even see the runway during that final flare up?)   
      
   The shuttle couldn't do level flight, except maybe in the hypersonic   
   portion of its flight.  But it wasn't ballistic, either.  It was a   
   glider, but with a very poor glide slope in the subsonic portions.   
   Push a brick fast enough, and it will produce a significant amount of   
   lift.  The shuttle was slightly better.   
      
   Watch some shuttle landings.  The last  mission just had a major   
   anniversary, and NASA TV reran a lot of video from the flight, but you   
   shouldn't have any trouble finding youtubes of other landings.   
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   "I am not given to exaggeration, and when I say a thing I mean it"   
      _Roughing It_, Mark Twain   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)