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Final Space Shuttle launch tomorrow (weather dependent)


TSB67

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I saw one go up. After it was gone I looked around and a bunch of people were crying. Also got to see some footage they take from a telescope aimed at the point of entry into the atmosphere. The extreme distance makes the image shimmer and you can actually see the shuttle come into view. They follow it all the way in, visually!

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Just heard this and am very disappointed that I will never see one in person. Something I always wanted to see but never thought about making a sole-purpose trip for it.

Same here. I always wanted to catch a night launch though. I guess it was one of those things you take for granted until you don't have it anymore.

Sad to see em go...especially since the russians now have a monopoly in space..but it's time to jump start NASA and move on to the next big thing.

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Are you saying NASA is no longer going to launch any shuttles??

Hmm, nevermind, I just read it for myself.

Edited by SWing'R
Read it for myself
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Me too. I wanted to fly down and see the last one. I've seen day and night launches and landings. But I never tire of watching. I actually was there camping out on the stinking Banana River for the first launch.

It's tricky seeing a launch, there will probably be 3 to 5 million people backed up more than 60 miles in all directions, trying to see this last one.

Now thinking of catching an Atlas or Delta launch a little later this year.

edit: news says only one million people estimated for this launch. But the local papers estimated 3 million for the previous launch, by additionally counting all the people stuck on the roads trying to get there. It backed up all the way to Orlando.

Edited by ReconRat
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I was able to go down last summer with a friend and watch the last scheduled night launch. We almost missed it because they kept delaying it and we were running out of vacation time. Managed to watch it from where the family and NASA guest are allowed, if I remember correctly it is the closest you can get with out actually working for NASA.

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I was able to go down last summer with a friend and watch the last scheduled night launch. We almost missed it because they kept delaying it and we were running out of vacation time. Managed to watch it from where the family and NASA guest are allowed, if I remember correctly it is the closest you can get with out actually working for NASA.

Correct. That's the place to be. The guy that lives across the street from my Parents down there, gets tickets all the time. He retired from the control center, and now is usually at the French Guyana launch site. My Parents have gone multiple times.

edit: I've even gotten the ladder out and watched launches and landings from on the roof of their house. Not a bad view.

Edited by ReconRat
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This is the poster/print everyone wants:

It's the one with all the birds in flight in the foreground.

frameimage.jpg?frame=[FAP:0+PRT:[PAP=351124%7CPRW=36%7CPRH=24%7CPIP=%5c8%5c823%5cHX7Y000Z.jpg%7CLFN=EUR%5C2400-4608.jpg%7CPWL=400%7CPHL=267%7CPWO=2000%7CPHO=1334]+MLD:[MID=1209742%7CMDW=1.5%7CMDH=1]+NMM:0+MXD:1000+MXW:400+MXH:450+QLT:90+OVH:[TOH=0.3125%7CROH=0.3125%7CBOH=0.3125%7CLOH=0.3125]]

I've got a bunch of shuttle photos from when I worked at Rockwell. Big 18"x24".

(And B-1B and Apollo photos.) I should dig them out, I haven't looked at them in years.

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I have an aunt that is like 5 miles from the launch site and they watch the take offs with a telescope. This thread kind of hits me with the reality that I had a place to stay and never went to see a launch. Heck I've never been farther away than Roanoke Va. and that was a delivery, down and back.

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