Shuttle Endeavor

lifted off at 6:36 under a beautiful blue sky with a bit of haze in the distance...

we watched it from Kennedy Point Park..which is about 10 miles from launch pad/tower.

GOOGLE MAP HERE

we were where the green arrow is, the pad used today is the one on the far right, the bottom one far right.

It was beautiful, I took video, but wont post it here, so much video out there, not gonna bother.

took us 1 hr door-to-park to go....we were literally water front. u cant get any closer without getting arrested or paying money.

coming back was a 1 hr 40 minutes due to everyone leaving at the same time.

we lft our house at 5pm. at 6pm we were getting out of the car. by 6:15 we were all set up with blanket and shade umbrella/beach-style covering our 20 months old from the laggin heat/sun. Didnt spend a nickel on parking or access.

What a great free experience!

dont forget to check for incredible images from

NASA TV

cool unique, REALTIME coverage from space!!


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Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

you're back from spain? where've I been.

you are a cool dad ;n]

i just hope she remembers.

today, when we got back and all were in PJ's I picked her up (our 5 yr old) and told her "what you saw today, u know how many kids in the world can only dream about seeing?".....(how many?)...."200 million, a lot, all the kids in the world, almost all of them...and i dont want you to ever forget this day" (she smiles, "i wont")...."listen, dont ever forget, cuz i had always wanted to see one, all my life, so close, this is the closest i will ever get, u could one day fly to space and be there if you want, but until then, dont forget, ok? hey, dont forget".....(laughing...ok daddyyyyyy, i wont forget! now let me finish watching cinderella 2!)



but, we live here now, maybe in the future again, but, today is today.

i just checked some info....

last time we watched from our house, about 50 miles out.

from here, it was so clear and the sun wasnt low on the horizon.....we were able to clearly see when the 2 solid booster rockets separated. this happens at 31 miles from earth (they spalsh down later at about 160-225 miles from shore)....

then we saw the tiny tiny itty bitty flare of the External Tank separation, which occurs at 75 miles.

now add to that the 50 miles or so on the bottom of the triangle...and figure the hypothenuse...and figure out the distance from my eyeballs to the event up there.....

incredible, i just didnt thing it was possible. with the naked eye we were able to witness the separations. i will never forget that.

source for the distances: here

btw, two emergency landing sites in eurpore...first one in spain
Post edited by Aria Giovanni,pZ at 8/9/2007 3:51:27 AM

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Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

I didn't think we launched shuttles from Spain. :X

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Pure 2: Tribes 2 movie - keeping hope alive for fps games

Phil Hendri did a skit overnight where this guy was complaining about the shuttle not blowing up, and how he gets better pictures when it blows up while taking off than while landing..............teh funneh!!

Originally posted by: Evil Napkin
I didn't think we launched shuttles from Spain. :X

We don't, but Aria is right that we do have an emergency landing area in Spain.

Since when does anyone care about a shuttle launch? Bother me when something bad happons, otherwise I don't care.
Post edited by Buzzed at 8/9/2007 11:53:03 AM

"What does this button do?"

I'd watch every one if I lived down there.

yeah, same here, used to drive from St.Cloud/Kissimmee over there.... One of the most amazing things I've seen was a night launch, watching from the beach....great stuff..



.

Track the Space Station location here

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/




NASA will transmit LIVE from the Orbiter Endevor at 9:20 PM tonight.

watch on NASA TV, linked on first post.
_____________________________

Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

Originally posted by: Buzzed
Since when does anyone care about a shuttle launch? Bother me when something bad happons, otherwise I don't care.

I know an engineer who never misses a launch, the guy is 80 years old, but keeps truckin down to florida to see them.

I guess it takes an appreciation for the monumental task of building such a machine

DONT FORGET, GUYS.

YOU CAN SEE THE SPACE STATION WITH THE NAKED EYE.
Post edited by Aria Giovanni,pZ at 8/9/2007 9:10:30 PM

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Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

KEWL BEENZ!

i just watched the first ever recorded video of the cockpit, from inside, during External Tank separation...at which time there is an abrupt slow down in speed....and things start floating....cuz they are in space

basically, we just watched the whole launch from inside the cabin, looking at the astronaut's faces, the shaking, the flares from the different stages, and then the bright sun, unencumbered by our atmosphere, and finally, "near zero" gravity (cuz it is always there, huh, at least for them, but they dont feel it)

it's just cool stuff. I still remember watching the first shuttle launch ever.

As a side note, we saw this Shuttle, the Endeavor, in mid July, standing right on the launch pad when we visited Kennedy Space Center. We saw it from their tower 2-some miles away. Nobody stands there on launch day, cuz the shock wave can kill you (may disrupt your body's own rythm, the SA Node charges in your heart and shit...god knows what else)
_____________________________

Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Buzzed
Since when does anyone care about a shuttle launch? Bother me when something bad happons, otherwise I don't care.

I know an engineer who never misses a launch, the guy is 80 years old, but keeps truckin down to florida to see them.

I guess it takes an appreciation for the monumental task of building such a machine

seeing it in person is different. Watching it on TV or on the web however...
Post edited by Buzzed at 8/9/2007 10:03:47 PM

that's why I get excited, cuz I see them in person.

And this one, we were the closest you can get without breaking the law
_____________________________

Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

they just orbited right over northern australia, and now they are going over the pacific.

they left camera running, at a beautiful angle, u see almost a quarter of the globe, with its curvature and all.

what view!!!! the best penthouse ever!

edit: they have 2 cameras running, HOuston changes views....one shows the curvature of earth, the other is looking at earth dead on, so ur looking at the surface dead-on...looks flat. i like the other view better.

edit 2: they ocassionaly brek up the live feed to show highlights of the day. the astronauts will be awaken at 5am.
Post edited by Aria Giovanni,pZ at 8/15/2007 1:01:04 AM

_____________________________

Originally posted by: Coba|t

Originally posted by: Stryk
At me, because I want this administration to admit this was a military action and that taking him alive was a distant priority, I suddenly don't know the difference? Try reading.

And I want butterflies to launch out of my armpits on command.But you can't always get what you want.

I know you didnt take the tour, but when u do they take you to the press bleachers, so you can get an idea of just how close people are allowed to stand outside and watch a launch - its amazing when u see how far away you are...

.

Regarding the gouge in the heat shield tiles we've read about...

Does anybody else think it's just plain damned stupid for NASA not to try repairing that?

They developed three repair techniques to be used for in-orbit repair of tiles, two are untested in space.

They've said they don't think the gouge is critical, and may not even need to be repaired (last I read).

So wouldn't it make sense to at least perform one of the other two untested repair procedures in a non-critical environment and learn from the procedure what worked and what didn't, than to wait until you have a true emergency and then are trying an untested procedure for the first time?

I dunno, I think NASA is stupid for not performing one of the other two repairs. Even if they don't think the situation needs repairing, at least perform the procedure and learn from it.

Agreed...

If they have planned for just this, then why not put something into action? Would the idea of an attempted repair put them in greater danger on reentry??

Instead of reactionary "when it breaks we have these plans.." how about proactive - "we know this is causing the problem and we're doing this to fix it (foam/etc)"

.

Originally posted by: Stryk
"What does this button do?"

DEE DEE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

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