Space Shuttle

Going out now to watch the shuttle launch. Love those night shots. Go NASA!

Sweet… 8)

I envy your ability to watch the launch live.

Beautiful launch tonight. And how about forgetting to latch the orbiter access arm.

Listen, JHEM, I could build you a really kickin’ winter house anytime you’re ready my friend. Land is cheap. :wink:

OK, send me plans and a plat. My wife just wants 5BR, 5.5Baths, all on one level. Gotta’ have enough room for the kids and the grandkids to all visit at once.

Oh, and the land needs to be waterfront with 8’ MLW on the ICW for the boats, border a Nicklaus or Palmer golf course for the SILs, be big enough for a 3000’ grass strip for J and have enough cleared area for a paddock for his wife’s horses. That’s all.

(I’ve looked at hundreds of summer/winter places in the past ten years, trust me, I’m not the one you need to convince!) :wink:

I got to see one launch back in the 80s…pretty cool, but my wife topped later. She saw a launch from an airliner while in flight. But I topped her later: saw the comet Kahoutek from a Lear in flight. Crystal clear winter night…great times…

Flew over me after the launch… but just a bright dot.

No kidding. It was amazing.

Nice article: space.com/missionlaunches/08 … h-day.html

Awesome night to see it from West Palm Beach.

Witnessed STS-78 ( Columbia on 6/20/96 ) We were getting married on a Carnival Ship out of Port Canaveral later that day. It is a beautiful sight to see, and you don’t realize how far away you are until it takes a while for the roar to get to you. If I forget my anniversary date, i can always look it up :laughing:

…and im such an idiot i had to edit it. I put 1992 instead of 96. Dumass

A good friend of mine also got to see a launch from the air when he was in elementary school. When he got back to school after vacation his teacher went around he room asking each child what they did during vacation. The teacher though he was lying and called him mom in for a conference. Needless to say the teacher was quite embarrased when his mom told her they did see the shuttle launch from the air.

I was 500 miles away at 41,000 and it was Fu*king cool!

Was VERY lucky to watch a Shuttle launch from the air a few years back. Came out of PBI heading for New York in the Lear. ATC routed us inland, over ORL then one of the ARs , which gave us a heading of about 070 or so. It took us about 25 or 30 miles north of the Cape! The controller counted it down on the air and then we got a front row seat for the brightest light I’ve ever seen in my life, just about at our 2 o’clock. Watched the smoke plume climb into infinity and then we just sat there grinning like idiots. :slight_smile:

:laughing: I have no idea what you or your fellow crewmember look like, but that one sentence painted the whole picture…great story

I worked for NASA JSC for 3 years just out of college. I signed off the wiring and installation subsystem of the Orbiters as the NASA subsystem manager before every flight. I haven’t ever gotten to see a launch live, but have gotten to climb around in the birds checking on “squawks” and repairs. I went on the launch pad, all the way to the top! You can’t even imagine the feeling, it is awesome. Gave me an infinite amount of respect for the astronauts who climb into this big glider that flies like a ton of bricks, attached to huge tanks of explosives, just to launch themselves into space! It is an absolute engineering feat everytime the Shuttle launches and another one when it comes home safely! And it just never grows old watching it… I envy those of you who have gotten to see it launch, no matter where you got to see it from. How cool! :smiley:

That’s me in the left seat…

http://www.hot-screensaver.com/wp-myimages/budget-airline-pilot.jpg

:laughing: :laughing: That has got to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen! Tell me a little more about this aircraft, why is there both a yoke and stick?

The stick gives me something to do on those long, boring legs…

This thread sure went in the gutter. :laughing:

:astonished: on those long boring legs!!! :laughing: :laughing: :laughing: