Space Shuttle Launch

[awilcockson]

It's official!... | Facebook

It's official! STS-135 will launch on July 8 at 11:26 a.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center, as announced by mission managers at the conclusion of the flight readiness review. Space shuttle Atlantis and its four astronauts will deliver supplies to the International Space Station to support this orbiting outpost for a year.

Getting close now

 

[Bundy Bear]

Was great to catch up with Mal and Andrew last night at AFF drinks, have fun watching the launch, and we all pray for no delays.

It's official!... | Facebook


Getting close now

All you need is a Facebook account.

 

[Mal]

After wondering if my tickets would turn up from Orlando before I leave Oz on Tue Arvo, my tix arrived today.

Woohoo!



(I've blacked out certain details of course ... )

Now have to work out what to do with the second ticket. A mate is now telling me, "Oh, I'm interested. might head over, will let you know", but we know how reliable those types of casual arrangements work....

 

[straitman]

After wondering if my tickets would turn up from Orlando before I leave Oz on Tue Arvo, my tix arrived today.

Woohoo!

View attachment 2820

(I've blacked out certain details of course ... )

Now have to work out what to do with the second ticket. A mate is now telling me, "Oh, I'm interested. might head over, will let you know", but we know how reliable those types of casual arrangements work....

Mal,

I'm sure you will get plenty of volunteers to look after the ticket. If you get stuck I could be forced to volunteer :!:

 

[Sprucegoose]

Have a great time at this historic event Mal.

 

[david-au-2000]

I am very envious, it's ben a longtime goal of mine to watch a Space Shuttle take off or land, but looks like I'll never have that chance now. Maybe the "next generation" vehicle, whatever that will be, but not this ungainly but amazing bird.

 

[Sprucegoose]

I am very envious, it's ben a longtime goal of mine to watch a Space Shuttle take off or land, but looks like I'll never have that chance now. Maybe the "next generation" vehicle, whatever that will be, but not this ungainly but amazing bird.

You can see the Enterprise at Dulles Airport as a consolation.National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

 

[Mal]

Mal,

I'm sure you will get plenty of volunteers to look after the ticket. If you get stuck I could be forced to volunteer :!:

My mate has now booked his flights, so your wait-list has unfortunately not cleared.

 

[straitman]

My mate has now booked his flights, so your wait-list has unfortunately not cleared.

Oh well. You never know if you don't apply.

 

[awilcockson]

Spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center visitor's center today. Was fantastic, wish I had had more time.

As shown below, NASA are still saying we are a go for a Friday launch, although the local news were saying there is a strong chance of a delay

 

[Mal]

Spent the day at the Kennedy Space Center visitor's center today. Was fantastic, wish I had had more time.

As shown below, NASA are still saying we are a go for a Friday launch, although the local news were saying there is a strong chance of a delay

Thought you weren't in Orlando till tomorrow? Anyways - yeah it is a great place to check out.
Finally am settled in my Orlando Hotel #1.

And, yes local news is correct. Weather conditions mean that they've given launch a 30% probability... Going to be a PITA of a day (because I doubt it would be cancelled until ~1 - 3 hours before).

 

[serfty]

Weather criteria for launch/landing: http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/531784main_2011.03.28_ShuttleWeatherCriteria.pdf

"Weekend Forecast": Kennedy Space Center Weekend Weather Forecast - weather.com

 

[Mal]

I heard today that there are only three potential launch windows this week...
Spaceflight Now | STS-135 Shuttle Report | Launch Windows

Friday, Saturday, Sunday (all around 11:30am).

Then due to Delta 4 launch requirements, no chance of a take-off until the next Sat (16th @ 8:04am), then Sun, Mon etc...

Here's hoping Friday is still good, Saturday and Sunday I can handle ... but the frustration and cost will add up. If there's a no-go on Sunday, then I've missed the launch (departing MCO on Friday next week).

 

[awilcockson]

Here's hoping Friday is still good, Saturday and Sunday I can handle ... but the frustration and cost will add up. If there's a no-go on Sunday, then I've missed the launch (departing MCO on Friday next week).

We are sort of in the same boat. We depart next Sunday, so in theory we could handle a launch next Saturday, but it would be a real PITA.

They had a guy on the news from NASA last night saying that they would normally wait until minutes before the final countdown was started before scrubbing due to weather, but in this case they have special permission to scrub at T-4 hours. Would still be a major pain as we're planning on leaving the hotel at T-9 hours (2:30am) to get to Titusville in time to hopefully get a viewing spot.

 

[Mal]

Wow. What an awesome day. I don't have photos of the actual launch (my teeny weeny incy wincy camera could never do it justice), so watched it instead through a pair of binoculars. Mate has photos and I can find thousands of similar photos from the Causeway, so don't really need my take on the exact same event.

Reflecting back on various things, I am amazed it all came together. Way too many variables all worked in my favour.

 

[awilcockson]

Wow. What an awesome day. I don't have photos of the actual launch (my teeny weeny incy wincy camera could never do it justice), so watched it instead through a pair of binoculars. Mate has photos and I can find thousands of similar photos from the Causeway, so don't really need my take on the exact same event.

Reflecting back on various things, I am amazed it all came together. Way too many variables all worked in my favour.

Don't worry Mal, I took a few photos

Absolutely awesome day, can't believe that the launch actually went ahead, it was only a 30% chance of a go due to weather up until 30 minutes before the launch.

Didn't think much of getting up at 1am, the 8.5 wait at the viewing point, or the 5 hour!!!! drive home at an average speed of 1 mile an hour for about 4 of the 5 hours, but it was all worth it to cross item #1 off my bucket list.

 

[Mal]

Found this video on Youtube last night.

YouTube - ‪STS-135 Atlantis Launch‬‏

It's VERY close to the experience I had ... I was watching the launch with a pair of Binocs, and I think the camera used was using a similar magnification. The angles even look right. (I wonder how close to me it was taken).

The one thing it missed out on was the gentle panic in the crowd when a sensor was returning erroneous data about T-31 seconds. People were wondering ... Is this about to be a scrub?

Time Magazine explained it well (and it's a good article too):
Atlantis Shuttle Launch a Success for NASA Space Program - TIME

Despite a persistent cloud cover that parked itself directly over Cape Canaveral early in the morning, the shuttle Atlantis lit its engines at 11:29 and 3.9 sec. E.T., after a heart-stopping hold at T-minus-31 sec., when the data sent back from the retractable arm that holds the "beanie cap" covering the tip of the external tank suggested the arm might be stuck. But the data cleared up, the arm worked fine, the clock resumed, and the ship launched.

Here's how I described it at FriendFace:

Note the silence at the start as everyone is in awe at what is happening and are about to see, the gentle cheering when people celebrate various milestones of the count down, people counting down with the clock, and then the bursts of cheering when it actually takes off.
... Then comes the roar as it breaks through the clouds.
WOW is all I can say. And, thanks to the U.S Government scrapping the Space Shuttle program - something that won't be seen again

 

[serfty]

Found this video on Youtube last night.

YouTube - ‪STS-135 Atlantis Launch‬‏

It's VERY close to the experience I had ... I was watching the launch with a pair of Binocs, and I think the camera used was using a similar magnification. The angles even look right. (I wonder how close to me it was taken). ...

Somewhat after the Shuttle passes beyond the cloud and goes out of sight, it's Interesting to see the shadow of the exhaust gases upon the cloud.

First observable about ~1:45 and later (with a longer shadow) at ~2:10.

 

[awilcockson]

Been back for a couple of days, so I figured it was time to put up some pictures.

OK, so after 32 hours of travel to get to Orlando, we had one good night's sleep before getting up at 1am to head to Titusville for the launch. We arrived at 2am and camped out on the edge of the water to wait the 9.5 hours to the launch. The view was pretty amazing. It eventually started to get a bit lighter and the launch structure became more visible. These shots are handheld at 300mm. 20 miles is a long way!

We had a few interesting visitors leading up to the launch, including people with more money than me and some interesting craft to keep spectators from getting to close.

The entire sequence of shots of the launch is in the album here, but some examples are:

Where there's smoke
there's fire
Clearing the tower
Rolling ... Now
Into the clouds
Smoke Trail

All up we were able to see the shuttle for about 15 seconds. 11 hours of waiting for 15 seconds, and I'd do it all again, if I had the chance

Here are some photos from the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex two days before the launch.

Tractor used to get the Shuttle to the launch pad
View as the eye sees the shuttle from the viewing point
Zoomed View
Full Zoom

Unfortunately the retractable launch structure wasn't removed until the next day, otherwise I would have had fully un-obscured shots of the shuttle on the launch tower.

Would have loved to have been standing here during the launch

 

[Deleted User]

Atlantis Space Shuttle STS-135 Reentry 21-07-2011 Cancun Mexico

What an amazing video of the re-entry of the last shuttle mission...!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XZgu7FStbw