In Honor Of STS-133

[RetiredGypsy]

Which can be seen launching here:

YouTube - Space Shuttle Launch: Viewed From an Airplane

And has a pretty neat little writeup in Wikipedia:

STS-133 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Here is a bit of NASA and space exploration history, in the form of audio logs from Apollo 11:

NASA - Apollo 11 Onboard Audio Database

 

[Ronstar]

Thanks for posting! Chicago hopes to land one of the shuttles as an exhibit at the Adler Planetarium. They plan on flying it piggybacked to Gary, indiana, and floating it by barge along Lake Michigan to Chicago. I hope to visit one someday.

 

[Goonie]

Thanks for posting, Gypsy! After all of the years that the shuttles have been in service, we were finally fortunate enough to be able to watch one take-off! And it was STS-133, Space Shuttle Discovery on February 24th!!!

We'd been in Florida several times over the years when NASA was supposed to have a launch, but they were always postponed for one reason or another, just like Discovery had been since September of last year. Then to our surprise, they scheduled it for a time when we were actually going to be back in Florida!

I got online and played hunt & search for a good spot to view it from. I had planned originally last year, to try and get tickets to view one from right at KSC. Although the one that was scheduled at that time for February was the Endeavor (which was then postponed due to the late launch of Discovery).

So I went to "plan B", which was to "get close". I found "Space View Park" in Titusville, but also found out that you really needed to get there several hours before if you wanted even a prayer of a chance of viewing from that point. Space View Park is 15 miles due east of the launch pad.

Finally, I found a little restaurant on the intercoastal waterway, that has an outdoor open deck. It is 16 miles due north of the launch pad! Also it is off the beaten path on a back road in a sparsely populated area! In fact most of the folks that were there, didn't even know there was a shuttle launch taking place that day!

We got there about 3:20, got seated at a table on the deck with an totally unobstructed view to the south and east, had some great fresh seafood & refreshments. Lift-off took place a few minute after we had finished eating, and I shot about 150 pictures of it right up until just after the solid boosters separated and quit firing! (Once I get all of our pix downloaded, I'll post a couple.) When our server came by with our check, we paid it and headed back north to Ormond Beach. There was NO traffic to contend with at all...amazingly! On the news that night, they said traffic was still backed-up on I-95 3-4 hours after the launch! I was soooo glad that we had opted to do as we had!

This shuttle launch was one more thing that both myself and my Mom (who is 83) got to scratch off our bucket lists!

 

[RetiredGypsy]

Here're some interesting pictures of Discovery being taken apart for retirement.

Spaceflight Now | STS-133 Shuttle Report | Discovery heads into retirement

 

[Texas Proud]

Thanks for posting! Chicago hopes to land one of the shuttles as an exhibit at the Adler Planetarium. They plan on flying it piggybacked to Gary, indiana, and floating it by barge along Lake Michigan to Chicago. I hope to visit one someday.

I was just reading about the list of places wanting to get a shuttle.... I was surprised that Houston was said to be at the bottom even though mission control is located here...


I saw one launch from somewhere on the lauch grounds... we were trying to find a good place to watch the launch and took a wrong turn... followed some people to a building with a parking lot with a few minutes before launch.... found out we were not supposed to be there but the guard let us stay to watch and then shoed us off... amazing to watch... but very quick....

 

[MasterBlaster]

I was just reading about the list of places wanting to get a shuttle.... I was surprised that Houston was said to be at the bottom even though mission control is located here...

When I visited Houston Mission Control in 1985 they had a full size mock-up of the space shuttle. It's not the real thing but certainly gives the feeling for one.

I was really surprised at how enormously big it was and that we could put something that big into space.

 

[grumpy]

I worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. We had a full size mockup of the shuttle's cargo bay and mid deck. It was used, among other things to work out the configuration of the carriers for the Hubble repair mission equipment. Even without the wings it was an impressive size.

Its a shame that the civilian space program got saddled with an expensive design driven by DOD requirements for carrying large spy satellites and then the DOD withdrew from the shuttle program.

I wish the country would dust off the blueprints from the Saturn 5, which was used to launch the Apollo moon missions, and again build a heavy lift launch vehicle.

 

[Texas Proud]

I worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. We had a full size mockup of the shuttle's cargo bay and mid deck. It was used, among other things to work out the configuration of the carriers for the Hubble repair mission equipment. Even without the wings it was an impressive size.

Its a shame that the civilian space program got saddled with an expensive design driven by DOD requirements for carrying large spy satellites and then the DOD withdrew from the shuttle program.

I wish the country would dust off the blueprints from the Saturn 5, which was used to launch the Apollo moon missions, and again build a heavy lift launch vehicle.

I read many years ago that they had to destroy the plans for the Saturn 5 to get funding for something (maybe the shuttle?)...

After my last post, I went to look a the Saturn 5 in wiki.... Houston has the only 'real' display... most other places have a mock up of at least one of the stages...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Like the shuttle mock-up I was amazed at the size and scale of the Saturn 5 rocket on display at Houston Mission Control.

The picture below doesn't really capture the enormous scale of the thing.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

The picture below doesn't really capture the enormous scale of the thing.

Here's a companion piece from Wiki to get a sense of scale:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/S-IC_engines_and_Von_Braun.jpg

If we do build a heavy lift vehicle again, someone needs to get hold of Robert Zubrin so we can finally go to Mars.

 

[RetiredGypsy]

For Discovery, a farewell spin - The Big Picture - Boston.com

Some amazing pictures of Discovery launching and in space.