NASA Shuttle Launch-Friday

[Guest michael^heaven]

7:38pm

[Guest lulamishka]

7:38pm

One of these days I wanna drive up there and witness a launch. Doubt I can make it this Friday.

[Guest endymion]

Hey kickass! I'm leaving tomorrow for a week-long retreat up near KSC to do some surfing and surf kayaking. The dusk-time launch should look awesome from the water. I wouldn't have even known to look up in the sky if you hadn't posted, thanks!

[Guest michael^heaven]

Hey kickass! I'm leaving tomorrow for a week-long retreat up near KSC to do some surfing and surf kayaking. The dusk-time launch should look awesome from the water. I wouldn't have even known to look up in the sky if you hadn't posted, thanks!

What was Tropical Storm Barry to be dissolving over the Northeast coast (and totally landlocked)on Monday as it starts interacting with a non-tropical low pushing over the Great Lakes. But the net result is to be only offshore winds relative to Central Fla. No other swell source suggested. A light offshore wind pattern to continue over northern waters driven by Barry exiting to the northeast fast while a calm patterns settles in down south. No swell producing fetch indicated through the week. Of note: the models are teasing again with a broad low pressure system forecast just off Florida late Saturday (6/9) generating 20 kt northeast winds over outer waters and building to 35 kts mid-Sunday off Cape Hatteras aimed right at Central Florida. Looks promising if one is to believe the models which is a highly risky venture.

[Guest endymion]

But the net result is to be only offshore winds relative to Central Fla. No other swell source suggested. A light offshore wind pattern to continue over northern waters driven by Barry exiting to the northeast fast while a calm patterns settles in down south. No swell producing fetch indicated through the week.

Thanks for the surf report Michael!

No worries though, I can surf MUCH flatter waves with a surfski than a board surfer can. One of the things that I'm going up there to practice (the Olympic team coaches for rowing/kayaking are all up in Melbourne/Cocoa) is surfing really broad, flat waves that are 100 feet across and only 3-6 inches high. You can hardly see them with your eye. Plenty of those any day even without barrels on the beach for board surfers.

Mainly I just want a week off from dodging asshole jet skiiers in Miami.

[Guest pod]

What, they still fly?

[ryan2772]

NASA TV live

http://www.floridatoday.com/multimedia/space/livenasafeedrtf.html

[Guest endymion]

Okay wow that was cool. Just watched the launch from close enough for the bass to be as loud as the Club Space amps at about midnight, from right under it. Was about as bright as a night launch. Kickass.

[Guest slamminshaun]

Looked cool....wish it wasn't as cloudy though.

[Guest lulamishka]

Okay wow that was cool. Just watched the launch from close enough for the bass to be as loud as the Club Space amps at about midnight, from right under it. Was about as bright as a night launch. Kickass.

That's awesome.

I just watched it on the NASA channel. So amazing!

[Guest slamminshaun]

Tech, you could hear the launch too? About 3 minutes after I saw it go up, I could hear the rumbling from the shuttle. I'm about 2 hours closer to Canaveral than you are.

[Guest endymion]

Tech' date=' you could hear the launch too? About 3 minutes after I saw it go up, I could hear the rumbling from the shuttle. I'm about 2 hours closer to Canaveral than you are.

[/quote']

Yeah same here, not sure how many minutes. Not as loud as they were for the first few years but still pretty loud, and deep, like an earthquake. I'm a 30-minute drive from the pad right now, in Melbourne.

[Guest slamminshaun]

Tech, you could hear the launch too? About 3 minutes after I saw it go up, I could hear the rumbling from the shuttle. I'm about 2 hours closer to Canaveral than you are.

Yeah same here, not sure how many minutes. Not as loud as they were for the first few years but still pretty loud, and deep, like an earthquake. I'm a 30-minute drive from the pad right now, in Melbourne.

Oh, well you heard it better than I did. I thought you were in Miami Beach which would have really impressed me if it traveled that far. I'm about 2 hours south of the pad, but could still here the rumbling.

[Guest endymion]

2 hours away and you could hear it, damn. By my calculations, I got the earthquake at T + 5 seconds, you got it at T + 30 seconds. I was out in my front yard, MacBook streaming the NASA live feed over wifi. It was cloudy all day and I thought I'd never see it but it cleared up right in time.

The weather guy on this mission's launch team must have had a pretty rough day. I heard them say at T - 5 minutes that weather wasn't go for launch but that they expected to be in five minutes. Ack!

[all4tribal1414779019]

Okay wow that was cool. Just watched the launch from close enough for the bass to be as loud as the Club Space amps at about midnight, from right under it. Was about as bright as a night launch. Kickass.

That's awesome.

I just watched it on the NASA channel. So amazing!

Yup, i was there as well late 05, i guess on a1a? with 1k other spectators. The rumble is pretty cool. The only downside about going up there to catch the liftoff is if they have to reschedule it to weather. It happened to me but thankfully i was a hour to orlando. Sometimes, they will reschedule a few days later not the following day.

[Guest endymion]

If anybody wants observation passes to drive onto KSC for a launch, just let me know. I got da hookup.

[Guest pod]

Ryan,

How close can you get? I'll definitely take you up on your offer but I'll need to rent some glass and probably a teleconverter. And need you to drive ;D

[Guest endymion]

How close can you get?

That depends on which pad it's on. You can easily get within about 10 miles with a normal observation pass, and within about 3.5 miles with a VIP pass from the Banana Creek VIP viewing area, which I can get passes for easy. Our small-town newspaper is right, when I was a kid growing up here, this is what "patriotism" was all about:

Yesterday's Atlantis launch, seen from Banana Creek VIP viewing area

When I was in kindergarten I watched STS-1 launch from the top of the VAB on a local commissioner's VIP pass. Local government works about the same everywhere. Those passes are much harder to get.

Pad 39 from the top of the VAB

You can get a great view without a pass from anywhere in Cocoa, especially the Cocoa Beach Pier, where they have beer. Watched at least one launch from a restaurant way out on the pier with big north-facing windows, timed dinner to the launch. Way cool.

[Guest pod]

Cool. Let's make a little trip then. Yes, I'm asking for your assistance, hah.

[Guest endymion]

Well keep your eye on the calendar for the last few launches then, I'd love to come up and see another one from closer before the end of the program. It helps a lot if you have a very flexible schedule since scrubbed launches are often scrubbed for days or weeks.

We have a Hookup Specialist and a Photo Specialist for our mission but we may still need a Logistics Coordinator to arrange lodging and transportation. Luckily that was my mom's job at NASA so we have one, heh. She has a spare room. The drive is three hours.

[Guest lulamishka]

Cool. Let's make a little trip then. Yes, I'm asking for your assistance, hah.

Hey! Hey! I'm interested, too!

[Guest lulamishka]

Well keep your eye on the calendar for the last few launches then, I'd love to come up and see another one from closer before the end of the program. It helps a lot if you have a very flexible schedule since scrubbed launches are often scrubbed for days or weeks.

We have a Hookup Specialist and a Photo Specialist for our mission but we may still need a Logistics Coordinator to arrange lodging and transportation. Luckily that was my mom's job at NASA so we have one, heh. She has a spare room. The drive is three hours.

What do you mean, before the end of the program??

[Guest pod]

The current shuttles are being retired in the next few years.

[Guest lulamishka]

The current shuttles are being retired in the next few years.

Yes, but aren't they being replaced by newer ones? So wouldn't that mean the program is continuing?

[Guest endymion]

NASA is retiring the aging and dangerous Space Shuttle fleet and ending the Space Shuttle program. It's all winding down right now and the last shuttle flight will be in 2010. There are about another 15 planned missions before then.

The shuttle will be replaced by a new spacecraft called Orion, which launches on a new rocket called Ares. The new Ares system looks more like the Saturn rockets that lifted the Apollo program than the shuttle.

Due to budget problems, there will be at least a four-year gap between 2010 and 2015, during which the United States will not be capable of launching a manned space mission. We will require assistance from the Europeans or the Russians to reach the space station that we built. Our exit from manned space exploration could also lead the US to seek assistance from the Indian or Chinese space programs.

"Space is not only not a high priority, it's hard to keep it on the radar screen for the White House right now," [syracuse University political science professor W. Henry] Lambright said.

...

Space agency officials said the 2007 budget would remove more than $500 million from what NASA had budgeted for developing the new spacecraft, pushing the first manned flight of Orion into March 2015.