YEEHAW!

M

mainstreet1997

Member
Leave for Florida a week from tomorrow. On Tuesday we plan on going to NASA. ; I know there is a planned shuttle launch for for Tuesday May 12th. ; Unfortunately, we fly out May 10th :(. ; So I decided to do a little research and find out how early they move the shuttle out to the launch pad. ; Without much hard work I found this http://www.space-travel.com/reports/NAS ... d_999.html

Apparently, the shuttle was moved out to Launch Pad 39A on March 31st so Atlantis should be out there the day we go! ; You can bet Im taking my 50-250mm with me!
 
Actually, you'll get to see a very rare event... there are shuttles on both launch pads, which has only happened 18 times in the history of the shuttle program. ; Atlantis is on 39A and Endeavour is on 39B in case something happens on Atlantis that would require an emergency rescue.
 
I am envious. ; If you go on the bus tour, be sure to go out back of the Saturn V building; there are good views of the launch pads from there.

Here is a shot of pad 39B with a shuttle on it from 1998, taken from the observation tower along the crawlerway:

 
Dennis, the second shot is really cool. ; I would love to catch a launch one day but I think my time on the shuttle program is drawing short.
 
IT is drawing short, but there will actually be more launches once the new system is in place. ; The reason for this is that when they start sending manned missions to the moon again, It will be done in 2 launches. ; The "equipment" will be launched first, and then I think it is about a week later that the "crew" would be launched. ; Once the crew reaches orbit their part of the joint rocket will meet up with the equipment, dock and then launch from orbit to get to the moon. ; I just wish that the new rockets had a better look to them. ; The shuttle was a cool thing and to go back to designs from 30-40 years ago, just seemed silly to me.
 
Thanks. ; That was taken from the NASA Causeway on one of the standard shuttle launch tours. ; You get a ticket in advance from the visitor center (http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/buy-tickets.aspx) and they bus you out to the causeway.

I've made many trips to Florida to see launches, but my success rate is only 30-40%; I saw the Skylab go up in 1973 and have seen three shuttle launches. ; The biggest disappointment was when I went down for a night shuttle launch; they scrubbed a few hours before launch time, and of course it was a problem that would take weeks to fix.
 
"ddindy" said:
Thanks. ; That was taken from the NASA Causeway on one of the standard shuttle launch tours. ; You get a ticket in advance from the visitor center (http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/buy-tickets.aspx) and they bus you out to the causeway.

I've made many trips to Florida to see launches, but my success rate is only 30-40%; I saw the Skylab go up in 1973 and have seen three shuttle launches. ; The biggest disappointment was when I went down for a night shuttle launch; they scrubbed a few hours before launch time, and of course it was a problem that would take weeks to fix.
Click to expand...

Ever make it out to DC to walk through Skylab?
 
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