Shuttle launch Schedule

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 8:42 pm

Well looks like there will only be 2 more shuttle flights this year. Columbia will now make its flight in mid January instead of december. As its scheduled now Endeavour will fly to the ISS on October 2nd of this year and Atlantis will fly to the ISS On November 2nd. But that will be it for this year.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 8:50 pm

I guess that's better than nothing. One of these days I'll get back over there and see another shuttle launch. The last one (and first one) I saw from the cape was STS-26. That was such an emotional ride...

I've gotten a couple of their launch T-Shirts and one launch programme (I got that because I answered some questions for them in a little room).

They have a tour there called "Nasa Up Close" where you can go out to the launch pad (or you could). Not physically on it but real [darn] close (up to the chain-link fence around it). Since 9/11, they changed the tour and you can only go out to the old viewing platform from the old tour. Still better than nothing I suppose.

Anyway...

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 8:55 pm

Thats so cool that you got to see the launch of STS-26 in person. And for those of you who don't realise its significance it was the first mission following the challenger accident. I had to settle for watching it on TV and almost didnt get to do that. I was in 3rd grade and i knew the shuttle was going up that day. but my teacher had no plans to have the class watch it. Luckily the other third grade class was going to watch it and i convinced my teacher to let us go watch it with them. After having seen Challenger explode nearly 3 years earlier it was an emotional day both happy and sad remembering what had happened but its a day i'll never forget.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 9:03 pm

Oh god... the day the Challenger exploded... goodness.. I was in... 3rd grade when that happened. The whole school watched... it was... horrible. watching footage of it now still gets to me. The look of bewilderment on the faces of the mission control crew... Gosh.

There was a lot of tension in the air for STS-26. People were nervous and rightfully so. But after many delays that day it finally got up there and we got back on track. I just think each time a shuttle goes up now there's the possibility that it could happen again. Sometimes I can't bear to watch them.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 9:08 pm

On a lighter note, I did see a launch here recently that provided a wonderful display of optics in physics. As the shuttle launched and went higher in the sky, behind it on its trails was a colorful display... each stage it seemed was a different color... the colors of the rainbow. Our local paper took a picture of it but it isn't any where near as good as seeing it live.

It was dusk and I was at class and we went out to see it. We were around this lake overlooking clear sky with the moon out and visible... and the shuttle with its rainbow trail streaked across the skies and over the moon. It was quite moving.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Mon Aug 26, 2002 10:04 pm

I dont think anyone who saw the challenger explode in 1986 will forget that day. I remember i was watching it at my grandmothers house. For some reason ym private school had that day off. i'd just finished eating when i went in the living room and saw the shuttle was about to launch then it did and it happened. Since then i've tried to learn everything i can about the accident and the aftermath and i always make an effort to remind people of what happened and that spaceflight although it appears routine is still the most dangerous job in the world and that another challenger accident is always possible. People seem to not care anymore when a shuttle goes up but i hold my breath every time i watch a launch and i pray that it will make it to orbit safely. And 2 years from now when Barbra Morgan makes her flight as the teacher in space ill be watching and remembering the first teacher in space and the other 6 crew members who died with her on that cold January morning in 1986. Hopefully they will do something apropriate to remember that crew and their mission.

monkeynautt · Post by **monkeynautt** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 8:54 pm

This might make you guys feel really old... I wasn't even one year old when Challenger exploded. I turned one a few weeks after the accident.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:04 pm

Gee thanks Monkeynautt i just feel so old now. Geesh as if i wasnt feeling old enough before this conversation. And i'm only 23.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:11 pm

Youngins

Yep, Spaceflight is not a routine thing. It's still very dangerous. But that certainly won't stop me from trying to do it myself. Somebody has got to come up with a way to get civilians into space cheaply and effectively before I die. Please?

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:18 pm

Ya know, the one thing that really gets me angry about Shuttle flights is that they always seem to be scheduled in the middle of the week... when working folks who might want to go see it live can't take time off to go see it. It's almost as if they don't want people to see it. It's not like I can just take a day off but if an attempt were made on weekends it would be nice.

Grrr.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:25 pm

I never really thought about it but your right most flights are during the middle of the week. That does narrow down the ammount of people able to watch it live or even on TV for that matter.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:35 pm

One of the shuttle flights I was able to use the T3 connection at work to get a streaming video feed of NASA Select. I was able to give folks at work play by play then turn in my seat to watch it from my second floor cubical. It was fun listening to NASA TV all day...

I've seen a lot on that channel over the years. I wish I still had it. My folks have the C-Band dish at their house. I've seen the rescue of LDEF, the first launch of Endeavour, the Hubble, various other missions... god I miss it.

But yeah, you'd think if NASA wanted good PR they'd make the launches so that regular folks could see it again. But, whatever... the enthusiasm will never be there like it was for the early years. Oh to have lived then.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:39 pm

Well i stoill watch launches on NASA TV on the web when i get the chance. Heck i'll watch for hours on launch day of the pre launch activities all the way uop to when thet get to orbit. As for the scheduling alot of it has to do with the easiest times to rendevous with the ISS especially now with most flights going to the ISS.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:47 pm

Yeah... I just hope all that is worth it. I mean, back in the 80s I thought it would be cool to have another spacestation but now... while its still a step in the right direction... I can't help but feel underwhelmed by the fact that it seems shrouded in politics instead of science. Furthermore, as it doesn't appear to be seen as a stepping stone for a return to the moon or to mars. People might talk it up that its a stepping stone but who are they foolin'. I'll never see a manned trip to mars... probably... maybe... the way we're going. The way we're going someone is going to invent a way to travel faster than light first or to transport us from one continent to the next.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Tue Aug 27, 2002 9:57 pm

Well unfortunately this space station they are building now was never designed to be a stepping stone to the moon or mars. However some of its research on the long term effects of space flight will help us survive a trip to Mars someday. Unfortunately the station will most likely never live up to its full research potential due to budget cutbacks.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Wed Aug 28, 2002 10:09 pm

Yeah "Someday" but unfortunately I probably won't ever get to see that someday. And that's pretty sad considering the drive this country once had. Yeah, that was political too... but you'd think people could just ban together and do it.

Maybe when I get $20 mil I'll get my ride to the station too... :p

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Aug 29, 2002 12:54 am

I think we will still get to Mars in my lifetime. But i don't think NASA will be the main force behind it. I yhink NASA will have some involvement but that it will be mainly corporate industry funding it and probably a combined project of several countries. The current US priorities are elsewhere and i dont see them changing soon.

Richasi · Post by **Richasi** » Thu Aug 29, 2002 4:17 pm

The only way the corporations are going to foot the bill is if they're assured they'll get a return on their investment. In today's corporate society, if corporations thought they could get something from going to Mars... we'd already be there and would have been there for years. We wouldn't still be talking about it.

Boomerang · Post by **Boomerang** » Thu Aug 29, 2002 5:26 pm

True private industry does ussually want something out of it but believe it or not their are good people out their too. I just don't think leaving it up to NASA will get the job done either.