Finals checks look good. T-2 minutes...
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/135_splash/index.html
Finals checks look good. T-2 minutes...
http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/135_splash/index.html
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Stalled at T-31 seconds...
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Sounds minor...
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Countdown continuing...
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Go girl go...
Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.
~Hunter S. Thompson
She's away. Godspeed Atlantis.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for the updates, I'm at PMP with no tv.
Can't believe we're done, how sad a day this is...
Faster, faster, faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.
~Hunter S. Thompson
Still watching... This is both heartening and sad.
'09 Duc Monster 696
'00 Suz SV650 (Dad's, garaged with mine)
I like mountains because they make me feel small.
Good solid rocket booster separation. Coming up on main engine cut-off in about 4 minutes.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Abort to orbit is now possible. Everything looking good.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
One minute to MECO, all engines look good. 15,000 mph.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Thanks for the link, Dirk!
MECO and external tank separation looked good. They don't require any initial tweaking to the orbit, so they are right where they need to be.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Tank away. You know, I think them adding the cam to the tank was a brilliant idea.
Oh man I was laughing that it might be cancelled today...I have a Canadian friend that went to the launch and also a cousin of my wife is there.
Its not a happy day, but a Sad one, that our space program got the axe...which is total and utter BullShit. We should remain leaders and have not cancelled the shuttle program till a replacement was up and running. Maybe the NEXT President will see fit to restart or speed up a new shuttle program.
I grew up right on the space coast and have watched launches from my front yard since the Apollo days. Truely a sight to see up close. It's a sad day to see the last launch of the space shuttle, the end of an era :-(
.
_______________________
// MRA #888 //
Current Bikes: 2007 Triumph 675 (race) : 2009 Ducati 1198 : 2004 Yamaha YZ250F : 2011 Ducati 796 Monster (wifes)
One of my coworkers flew to FL three times to catch the last launch...Originally Posted by modette99
Agreed. It is sad.
Do not put off living the life you dream of. Next year may never come. If we are always waiting for something to change...
Retirement, the kids to leave home, the weather or the economy, that's not living. That's waiting!
Waiting will only leaves us with unrealized dreams and empty wishes.
great link dirk! earth looks awesome from that view!
Well, we (the citizens of the USA) have an odd view of the space program (which, of course, includes a lot more than just manned spaceflight but that's what we're talking about here). We rightfully take pride in it. We like to be number one. But the truth is that it has been pretty stagnant, mainly because we haven't had any real competition. We are not a people who seem to collectively desire to push back the boundaries of exploration for the (extensive) merits of that exploration.
If we fear that someone will get there before us, then we are a hell of a force to reckon with, but we do not seem to grasp the connection between exploration and prosperity. I can't tell you how often I have discussed the shortsightedness and ignorance of the "We need to take care of everyone on Earth first." argument with people, as if we are launching piles of money out into space. There's no place in space yet that takes dollars for anything. Most people think we spend huge amounts of money on space exploration, but that is quite a false impression that I think mainly arises because missions are always reported as "the X million dollar so-and-so mission". We spend over 100 times more on Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, etc than we do on all of NASA, so we really are "taking care of people down here." Taking all of NASA's budget and throwing it into that pile won't make the slightest difference in the state of our people. But killing NASA and all of the knowledge we acquire from it, in research that seems esoteric now, would be exceedingly shortsighted and ultimately result in our decline. We sacrifice great things tomorrow for an almost immeasurable gain today.
Yes, there are a few who have the desire, who have spent many years developing the skills necessary to push beyond the boundaries of the knowledge of our place in a vast universe, but most of the time I feel like it is more like dragging humanity along kicking and screaming rather than going willingly with the excitement of discovery. Perhaps that is just the way humans are.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
Agree. I'd like to see it be a debating point of just how much more we should be doing in space and how important the program is.
The shuttle program was under appreciated while we had it but will be sorely missed when it goes dark.
[SIGPIC][SIGPIC]
As usual, Dirk, your wisdom is impeccable. The world needs more who try to view things the way you do.
89 EX500 RIP
06 R6S RIP
03 R6
I saw ~30 shuttle launches from the press site at the Cape while I was in grad school. We used to do a post-mission recap at the university museum after each one for the public and they were very popular. I only remember seeing Apollo 17 launch when we lived in Jacksonville, but I do remember seeing Apollo 11 on TV and then seeing the Moon in the sky, thinking how cool it would be to be up there walking around. It had a profound influence on me as a four year old and set the direction I would take in life.
Formerly MRA #211 - High Precision Racing
"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self- preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property, and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."
--Thomas Jefferson
The space program had a huge impact on my life as well. It was so cool growing up there during that era. It was an exciting time for space exploration. The area was really booming. It was a time of dreams and huge advance's in technology. A time were all of us wanted to grow up and be an Astronaut or do something great (unlike most kids today).
The Apollo lunches were something to see. I lived in Indialantic just to the south of Cocoa Beach and those things would rattle every window in our house when they went up. Talk about pure HP!
.
_______________________
// MRA #888 //
Current Bikes: 2007 Triumph 675 (race) : 2009 Ducati 1198 : 2004 Yamaha YZ250F : 2011 Ducati 796 Monster (wifes)
In a way it's a sad day, in a way it's a happy one. Sad that it's the end of an era, but happy it's the start of a new one. There will be a lag between the end of the last one, and start of the new one, but the shuttle was actually a very inefficient launch vehicle from what I'd been told by some of the NASA guys I worked with, and some of the things I'd read. The Saturn V, and most "disposable" launch vehicles (rockets) are a lot more efficient (read: cost effective) launch vehicle. I'm all for space exploration, I think it's great from a scientific knowledge perspective, and I actually did some design on an experiment that was launched. I just think we can do it more effectively, so hopefully that's the direction we'll be taking soon. I was bummed I didn't get the job to work on the Orion project about a month ago.
--------------------------------------------------
"...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."
-Theodore Roosevelt 1907
--------------------------------------------------
Blu/Wht '01 Gixxer 1K, '91 KX500
--------------------------------------------------
Tokin' SortaTalian
(Pronounced: Kind-A-Dago)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote