Thank you for posting these. I would be interested in seeing the rest of them. This is a historic pad.
Thanks for these historical photos and especially for the short stories accompanying them. I love that you give us some background to the photos.
Ok, that's enough OMBUU. We're just going through the photo album, one sheet at a time, so things may or not be equally as interesting, and may or may not be quite chronologically just so, but in the interests of getting it all, I'm gonna get it all.This shot includes an image of the Shuttle coming in for a landing (sorry, I cannot remember which mission, but perhaps my son might), as well as images of my son taken with the Pads in the background. You can't really see it, but the orbiter is in the air, inbound to runway 33 to the right of the VAB in the top left photo. It's a shade below the roof height of the VAB. Find the white trashcan above the top corner of the windshield on the pickup truck, then notice the guy in the light-colored shirt who almost looks as if he's sitting on the trash can. Immediately left of him, farther away, is another person's head that more or less touches the light-shirt guy's head. Left of THAT guy's head, is a gap, before you encounter another head. The orbiter is directly above the center of that gap. Maybe I'll play around with this shot some day, to enhance it somehow. I dunno.The steel platform my son is standing on in the lower right photo is the "Centaur Porch" and eventually wound up on the FSS where it was supposed to support the Centaur Rolling Beam Umbilical Assembly, or RBUS, (pronounced "arbus"), but the Challenger disaster put a stop to all Shuttle Centaur operations and the porch remained on the FSS, unused.My son, by the way, was, is, and ever shall be, the light and the rudder of my life.Just so you know.
Ok, that's enough for now.We'll do the PGHM Bridge Beam lift when I get back, ok?
http://www.16streets.com/MacLaren/Misc/TechnoRedneck.htm
Quote from: 39B on 06/09/2011 02:38 amhttp://www.16streets.com/MacLaren/Misc/TechnoRedneck.htmThat story was hilarious!
Go here http://www.16streets.com/MacLaren/Misc/TechnoRedneck.htm to see enlargements of the shot that make me visible (sort of) along with a crazed (but one-hundred percent true down to the smallest detail) story of a near-fatal misadventure at Pad A.
After Challenger.I probably shouldn't even be putting this one up on the internet, but oh well.All these years later it still breaks my heart to think about it, and writing these words is not easy.
Prober: 39B do you still have the negatives on these photos? The pics are great and might be even better. You can get the negs scanned and make some great pics on your printer.Yes, I have the negatives, but the last time I looked at 'em, it broke my heart to see that they have not aged very well. Many of them look to be irretrievably damaged. I may look into getting them scanned one day, but it will take an equipment upgrade, and for the time being that's not going to happen on my very limited budget.
Prober: You might be surprised how cheap you can do this now ...... Wish you all the best.Thanks for the kind thoughts.Downix: I have a negative scanner and the tools for repairing damaged negatives, holdovers from my younger days in filmmaking. If you need any help, let me know.This is an astounding offer, and I do not quite know how to reply. Just so you know, I'm living on Merritt Island, none too far from where these photographs were taken. I'm sure I could use help, but I do not know exactly how to go about things. A part of me does not even believe that I actually own these shots. From the beginning, they've sort of just been using me as a conduit to get themselves taken, and then follow an unknown road to somewhere else, wherever that may be. My son shall be their ultimate steward, but how the road may twist and turn to that point I cannot know. A thousand and one thanks, no matter how it shakes out.Ok, after a morning of surfing in surprisingly nice waves (especially for around here in the month of June), and an afternoon of computer repair with a very happy customer taking possession of a newly revitalized machine, it's time to get back on the scanner. So here I go.
...You don't want to be under something when they lose it. It's not good for your complexion.
Ok then, enough for now. More later.
For the first time in 50 years, NASA is opening its gates to public visitors to tour the main launch pad. The new KSC Up-Close: Launch Pad Tour, the latest to open of the three special behind-the-scenes tours, takes visitors from Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to the inside of Launch Pad 39-A, the location of space shuttle and Apollo Saturn V moon rocket launches.The tour travels nearly a quarter-mile within the perimeter security fence of Launch Pad 39-A. Visitors can enjoy close views of the 350-foot-high fixed service structure, rotating service structure, propellant storage containers, water tanks, flame trench and other aspects of the launch pad complex. The highlight of the tour is the photo opportunity during the stop at the pad. The tour also includes drive-by views of Launch Pad 39-B, the Vehicle Assembly Building, mobile launch platforms and culminates at the Apollo/Saturn V Center. This tour is offered for a limited time only!
See Atlantis Up-Close! Celebrate the "Year of Atlantis" with a firsthand look of the orbiter. For a limited time, visitors who take the special behind-the-scenes tour of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) have an opportunity to get an up-close view of space shuttle Atlantis. On November 2, space shuttle Atlantis rolls over to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as part of the "Atlantis Homecoming: The Celebration." Click here for more information.
It's really great that you're continuing with this incredible thread. Thanks for the unique views and interesting background stories.I like the 39 "bee" badge... and Kai was a lucky kid for sure!
Amazing photos. It all started with a photo trying to correct the discoloration, and the results are pretty good. Here are the photos I've processed so far in Photoshop. I hope to finish up the rest soon.
Quote from: Chris-A on 02/06/2013 07:39 pmAmazing photos. It all started with a photo trying to correct the discoloration, and the results are pretty good. Here are the photos I've processed so far in Photoshop. I hope to finish up the rest soon.What did you do in Photoshop to get such an improvement? I need to fix some badly faded photos myself.
Chris-A I just took a look at this thread after a too-long absence, and just wanted to stop and offer my undying thanks for the work you've done to enhance my unworthy images.It's really appreciated. More than you might imagine.And thanks once again to everyone, for all the kind words and interest.Those were the days.