Space Shuttle Atlantis

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Hotdog
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Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by Hotdog »

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Recently I had the pleasure of getting up-close-and-personal with Space Shuttle Atlantis while visiting KSC during my Florida vacation. I was very impressed! No expense was spared to showcase this wonderful and accomplished spacecraft. The KSC guys did an awesome job! Words cannot describe the feeling of standing next to such a massive piece of historical space-flown hardware. I was completely awestruck! In addition to the orbiter itself, there is a full-size Hubble, a couple of EMU's, a Launch and Entry suit, Crippen's flightsuit, the crew transfer van, a flown SSME, the ET beanie cap, a full-size mockup of the flight deck, and a mockup of the ISS toilet. There's also some really great shuttle sims for landing the shuttle, docking with the ISS and capturing the Hubble. For a shuttle buff it's an absolute must-visit and worth the $50 admission to KSC just for the Atlantis exhibit alone.

I took my good camera and got lots of photos. You can view the full album here:
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/hemiman ... y/Atlantis
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by p51 »

I'm freaking green with envy over here! :mrgreen:
Man, I want to get back there, especially as I was with my parents in 2011, I think I missed more than I saw as they are in their 70s and Mom wasn't getting around all that much at the time. They also weren't doing the tours of the pads and the VAB at the time (not that I would have gotten to do either if they had been).
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

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Beautiful! We'll be going there next year and cannot wait! Thank you for the preview.
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

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My folks were supposed to go too, but they had to go home prematurely due to a family emergency. I had kinda looked forward to sharing the experience with my dad, but then I probably wouldn't have gotten to soak everything up with the parental distractions like you said. I bet I went through the Atlantis exhibit 3 or 4 times. I also spent a lot of time doing the sims, they seemed to be the latest Binary Star with updated high-fidelity graphics (very real-looking!). There are so many little hidden gems to discover! They really planned the whole setup well. Somehow I doubt the Smithsonian will be as impressive with its presentation of Discovery when I go to see her next year!

I spent all day just at the visitor center as my mind was so fixated on Atlantis. I didn't even get to take the free bus tour over to the Saturn V complex to see the Apollo stuff. They were running the pad tours, but those were an additional $50. Maybe I'll do all that stuff next thanksgiving. I had not made it down to KSC since 1998 so a lot had changed since then!

Glad you will get to go Jennifer! I will look forward to seeing your pictures, I'm sure they'll turn out a lot nicer than mine! Be sure to take a good flash unit, the lighting can be awfully dim in places. And if you can pack a mini tripod, there are raised walkways and other high surfaces to set that up as well.
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by Steve »

Awesome pictures Hotdog. I been wanting to get down there & see the up close look. I say being there really makes the shuttle come alive & something you will never forgot. Again thanks for the awesome pictures!!!
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

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It's been four months since I visited Atlantis, and I am still in awe of the stunning display put together to present her. Well as it turns out, the creators of the visual effects of the exhibit have won an award for most outstanding visual effects for a venue display. This neat little video shows how they did it:

https://www.lightwave3d.com/news/articl ... s-project/
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by Steve »

Hotdog wrote:It's been four months since I visited Atlantis, and I am still in awe of the stunning display put together to present her. Well as it turns out, the creators of the visual effects of the exhibit have won an award for most outstanding visual effects for a venue display. This neat little video shows how they did it:

https://www.lightwave3d.com/news/articl ... s-project/
Awesome visual effects. Later this year, I will have a opportunity to stand before this shuttle. I so excited to see the Atlantis. Thanks for sharing Hotdog.
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by SpaceCanada »

Since Apple has discontinued iWeb and I have yet to find an equally simple web creating and publishing app, I am stuck posting photos on Facebook. (I don't have time to HTML code a new personal photo site.)

Album:
https://www.facebook.com/spacecanada/me ... 417&type=3

Highlights:
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And meeting PC (majtom7), of course!
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by Steve »

Great pictures Jennifer, when did both of you go to KSC? Myself, P51 & PK was there in October, I am ready go to head there again I wished! :lol:
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

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We were there in November. :)
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Re: Space Shuttle Atlantis

Post by p51 »

Steve wrote:Myself, P51 & PK was there in October, I am ready go to head there again I wished! :lol:
Yes, and what a great experience it was, too...
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I need to upload the shot of myself, PK and Steve in front of the orbiter...
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