Shuttle launch!

[wheatonFJR]

Well we crashed the visitor center's web site this morning with all the people trying to get tickets mg: I tried for about an hour before I found out the whole mess was down. The worst part of all this is I joined Facebook so I could get updates, oh the horror :gah:

WOW.

Now that you've gone that far....

Can I be your facebook friend? <weak handshake smiley>

:lol:

 

[feeger]

Well we crashed the visitor center's web site this morning with all the people trying to get tickets mg: I tried for about an hour before I found out the whole mess was down. The worst part of all this is I joined Facebook so I could get updates, oh the horror :gah:

I was planning to try to get a ticket when they went on sale, but spaced on it (pun intended)

Looks like I'll get a second chance, this is off the Kennedy Space Center website:

KennedySpaceCenter.com has been experiencing technical difficulties. STS-132 launch tickets will go on sale early next week. Please check back for a new on-sale date and time.

 

[Wee Willy]

Far, far sadder is the fact that if this president gets his way, we are not going back to "cans on a stick". We are going to nothing. Zip. No future. 4.5 decades of USA leadership in human spaceflight flushed down the crapper......

Amen brother. One doesn't have to look far to see something in their life that has resulted directly from our aerospace work. There's a ton of it in the bikes we ride. This will be a tremendous disinvestment in our future if it's allowed to stand. Shame on them.

My dad worked at the Cape from 58 - 69. Came in before Mercury and left just before Apollo 13. As a 10 & 11 year old my brothers & I would get a trip out to the beach to watch the Saturns fly. There has been nothing on this continent to compare to those amazing machines before or since. We were probably within 5 miles of the pad in those days and the acoustic power is something I still remember vividly. The one shuttle launch I've seen was a great show but didn't rise to the occasion of a Saturn shot.

Those were heady days. I do hope common sense prevails soon and that we'll continue to continue this tremendous legacy.

Looking up...

W2

 

[Woketman]

W squared, I know you got that right! I have been to three Shuttle launches, and they are impressive for sure. But I have also talked to several of the old timers that had experienced the acoustic signature of five F-1 engines at the base of the Saturn S-1C comming off pad 39A! HOLY CRAP!!! Each time that I drive east from Slidell towards the Gulf coast you are reminded of this in a very subtle way: the fact that the Stennis Space Center's buffer zone extends many, many miles on every side of the center. They had to create the buffer zone back in the 60's around Stennis due to the toll that the simultaneous testing of 5 F-1s would take on business and residential window panes! What a time that must have been to be in the employ of NASA!!!

You got that right too about the tech stuff found just in our bikes that can trace its roots to Apollo. And don't forget cell phones, wireless comm, telemetry, mamograms, CAT scans, composite sporting equipment, the list is almost endless. Sure, we would have eventually had all of this stuff anyways, but the billions infused into the tech sector in the 60s allowed American industry to get a leg-up on some many different fronts and gave us decades of leadership in developing entire industries. All of the jobs that resulted and all of the $$$ raised all of our standards of living so very much.

And yet, as we speak (type?), the bone-head is flushing it down the crapper..... Hope and change, eh? ;-(

 

[rickcorwn]

Looks like they're gitten that shuttle ready for our arrival B)

See the whole series here

 

[Woketman]

Atlantis has been on Pad 39A for a few days now. I just realized, earlier today, that this mission is, if nothing changes, to be her last. Atlantis' last time in space.

I better start drinkin' (sigh)........

 

[rickcorwn]

Tickets went on sale this morning and.... we struck out :dribble: All tickets not just the Causeway were sold out in about an hour.

But all is not lost we got Causeway ticket through a tour company :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

It was a bit pricier but we get picked up at our hotel in Orlando and taken to the Space Center via tour bus so we won't have to deal with the traffic. Judging from what I've head and read the place is going to be packed so this could be the best thing that happened.

Now to start packing :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo: :yahoo:

 

[Woketman]

It is in the news, but here is the latest: The AMS (Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer), one of the primary payloads for Discovery's last ride into space, will not be ready for her July launch date. So there is a definite extension for the Shuttle Program. They cannot simply launch Endeavor's flight early (the final scheduled launch in Sept.) because the Leonardo module cannot be ready in time. But we will still likely fly-out the program in calender year 2010 ;-( Specific dates should be known within a week.

 

[Yambone]

I'm in for a ride over and a view of the May 14 launch. Room booked in east Orlando. Looking for a recommended location for viewing if I can't get onto the Causeway or the Space Center. Also wife unit requests seafood!

 

[rickcorwn]

I'm in for a ride over and a view of the May 14 launch. Room booked in east Orlando. Looking for a recommended location for viewing if I can't get onto the Causeway or the Space Center. Also wife unit requests seafood!

Yambone, here's another good viewing location resource from the city of Titusville.

I looked into some old astronaut hang outs from back in the day when they were made of the right stuff and weren't afraid to knock back a couple. I can't vouch for the food or the authenticity of these spots but here they are;

Durangos the Cocoa Beach location formerly the Mousetrap. They reused the old wooden bar from the old days.

La Fiestas formerly The Moon Hut. The original owners had a condition in the sale of the place--that the banquet room be kept "as is".

The Pig and Whistle formerly the Pig and Whistle but not the original location. I don't know of any astronaut memorabilia but it's a well reviewed British pub so they must at least have good beer. B)

 

[The Flying Dutchman]

[

About 5 minutes before launch ISS itself passed over, and it was a really bright steady dot moving very fast. I haven't seen ISS before and been sure of it, but NASA TV pointed it out, so this time I know it was the Station.

That was worth staying up for.

clicky

will take you to a locator for ISS and other celestial objects that can be seen with the naked eye

I'm in for a ride over and a view of the May 14 launch. Room booked in east Orlando. Looking for a recommended location for viewing if I can't get onto the Causeway or the Space Center. Also wife unit requests seafood!

We go straight over on fifty until it dead ends into the river in Titusville. You will see it launch across the river.

Go early to get good parking. Always a crowd.

 

[Crash Cash]

About 5 minutes before launch ISS itself passed over, and it was a really bright steady dot moving very fast. I haven't seen ISS before and been sure of it, but NASA TV pointed it out, so this time I know it was the Station.
That was worth staying up for.

clicky

will take you to a locator for ISS and other celestial objects that can be seen with the naked eye

Yeah, I've got 5 or 6 sat tracker sites, but this is the first time I've been SURE it was ISS or whatever. Now I know what a satellite looks like and how fast it moves.

I live near several busy airports, so I've never been sure it wasn't a plane until now. And now I can say I've seen ISS about a dozen times.

 

[Yambone]

Okay, read through this whole thread and really appreciate all the suggestions for launch viewing. I'm leaning toward Fljab's suggestion to hang with the locals at Scottsmoore, but might just chill with the big crowds and wait them out in Titusville (Sand Point Park or somewhere at the end of Hiway 50). Hopefully will have time to scout those locations the day before launch. Thanks to all for the tips and the great local insight and knowledge about the space program past and present.

 

[fljab]

Okay, read through this whole thread and really appreciate all the suggestions for launch viewing. I'm leaning toward Fljab's suggestion to hang with the locals at Scottsmoore, but might just chill with the big crowds and wait them out in Titusville <snip>

Remember also the one I posted about the New York, New York restaurant/bar on the river @ South Titusville (may be just out of city limits); also a good spot, or it used to be. That used to be Harold's and was a big space worker hangout back in the day. Great launch viewing as well...

I'm not working right now so won't be for the May 14 launch - I'm on disability for a shoulder surgery (can't ride either); I have to attend the Cocoa Beach High School graduation that night as my wife's god daughters are in that class, but if I can help or hookup with someone, let me know...

 

[hecpilot]

We were lucky enough to receive an invitation to the launch of Discovery, STS-131. Here are my photos from the launch, taken from 3.5 miles away. Hope you like them. It was the most spectacular, awe-inspiring, patriotic event of my life. Yes, it was a huge pain to get there and back, but it was worth it! So my advice to you is, get there, do whatever it takes, move mountains, take time off work, spend what it takes. See the Space Shuttle launch.

 

[Woketman]

Great photos!! I wish I had supported the launch of STS-131 from the Cape rather than here. I have heard 1st hand accounts from several co-workers that attended. Seems like the fact that the ISS passed over and was clearly visible about 15 minutes before Discovery launched tied it all together for those that were there. Gave a hell of a lot more meaning to the launch and the reason for the flight.

The Program is ending. I'm going to the fridge for a bunch of beers..... (sigh)

 

[fljab]

My wife & I will be at the Scottsmore site to view the launch tomorrow; if anyone wants to meet up, PM me and we'll trade info. Didn't want to fight the crowds in Titusville, plus we have to be in Cocoa Beach that evening for the high school graduation of my wife's goddaughters, so the Scottsmore site is close for us...

 

[Woketman]

I gotta be at work at 3:00 AM in the morning to support fueling the External Tank... Just checked weather here: https://www.patrick.af.mil/shared/media/doc...-070517-025.pdf

70% chance of good weather at Liftoff (1:20 PM Central).

Go Atlantis, go STS-132!!!!

 

[Crash Cash]

That was sweet! I got to see it from the 3rd floor at work, and there was very few clouds. I got a movie and lots of pics of the smoke trail.

Out of 1100 people at the site, there was me and 2 others interested enough to watch.

One of the local women was just totally clueless and talking out her ***. I wanted to slap her upside her ******** head.

But the launch was nice! I'll miss Atlantis... I hope she gets that final extra mission.

 

[Woketman]

That was sweet! I got to see it from the 3rd floor at work, and there was very few clouds. I got a movie and lots of pics of the smoke trail.
Out of 1100 people at the site, there was me and 2 others interested enough to watch.

One of the local women was just totally clueless and talking out her ***. I wanted to slap her upside her ******** head.

But the launch was nice! I'll miss Atlantis... I hope she gets that final extra mission.

They should take the 1097 others and process them for solid fuel for the SRBs. Go Atlantis!!!