Space Shuttle STS-121 - Mission ULF1.1 to the International Space Station
- Thread starter Berserker
- Start date
I was about 20 miles away on the 4th and got a vid and few pics, will upload once I get all my stuff sorted.
We were in Orlando eating lunch about 1pm when we decided that the odds of a launch on that day seemed good, so we ate up quickly and started driving towards the coast. We thought we were foiled when we came across crawling traffic and a "Road works next 22 miles"
o) sign. I plotted an alternative route into the PDA/Tom Tom, but within a few miles we again hit traffic. By this point we were about 40 miles from Cocoa beach where we were aiming for, with about 45 minutes until launch - not doable unless there is no traffic really.
So we had a change of plan and decided we'd aim for Titusville and get as close as we could and just pull over about 5 minutes before launch into a layby or something.
We got about 15 miles away and with around 5 minutes to go found a boat ramp by the side of the road with loads of people gathered on it looking skyward and decided to join them - there were loads of people doing the same, pulling off the highway onto the verge.
It's the second time I've seen a shuttle launch from within 10 or 20 miles.
Later in the week I went on a bus tour of the facility which was made more interesting by the recent launch, but hampered somewhat by the weather on that day as we weren't allowed off the bus due to risk of lightning strike.
We were in Orlando eating lunch about 1pm when we decided that the odds of a launch on that day seemed good, so we ate up quickly and started driving towards the coast. We thought we were foiled when we came across crawling traffic and a "Road works next 22 miles"
o) sign. I plotted an alternative route into the PDA/Tom Tom, but within a few miles we again hit traffic. By this point we were about 40 miles from Cocoa beach where we were aiming for, with about 45 minutes until launch - not doable unless there is no traffic really.So we had a change of plan and decided we'd aim for Titusville and get as close as we could and just pull over about 5 minutes before launch into a layby or something.
We got about 15 miles away and with around 5 minutes to go found a boat ramp by the side of the road with loads of people gathered on it looking skyward and decided to join them - there were loads of people doing the same, pulling off the highway onto the verge.
It's the second time I've seen a shuttle launch from within 10 or 20 miles.
Later in the week I went on a bus tour of the facility which was made more interesting by the recent launch, but hampered somewhat by the weather on that day as we weren't allowed off the bus due to risk of lightning strike.
Astronauts currently having a meal (recorded earlier) on NASA TV.
Playing with their food too. Kidz 2day.
PS - I won't be able to provide 'service' on Landing day. Hopefully someone else can step up. Hope I'll be able to watch it somewhere though.
Playing with their food too. Kidz 2day.
PS - I won't be able to provide 'service' on Landing day. Hopefully someone else can step up. Hope I'll be able to watch it somewhere though.
Just a reminder that the shuttle will be landing at 13:14GMT today, so not long to go at all now
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/
Soldato
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cheers for the heads up. is still due for 13.14 ???
Looks like it, haven't seen anything on NASA TV to suggest otherwise.
Only thing they have said is that they're not sure yet whether they'll be able to actually land on the first pass...something like that anyway, I think it's down to the weather.
Only thing they have said is that they're not sure yet whether they'll be able to actually land on the first pass...something like that anyway, I think it's down to the weather.
Soldato
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Touchdown for the space shuttle Discovery 
