Author Topic: STS-134 Endeavour: Viewing (Going to launch, landing etc.) (Read 587651 times)

bmurray · « **Reply #200 on:** 03/13/2011 05:24 pm »

Quote from: cycleroadie on 03/13/2011 04:27 pm

Quote from: solaria on 03/11/2011 05:55 pm
Got my lottery email. Mon 9am. I only need one ticket...should I buy 6? :-) so excited.

There is really not much point in buying more than you need since anyone who bought them from you can't get there since they do not have a parking Placard.

Unless, of course, the purchaser is willing to carpool with random forum members.

If someone does want to make a few bucks, and is willing to buy 2 extra causeway passes, I'll pay a premium. Not, of course, $800/piece like on ebay...

Rocket Guy · « **Reply #201 on:** 03/13/2011 08:00 pm »

Did anyone receive a rejection email on the lottery? I recall getting one last time but have not received any emails this time.

texasmomof2 · « **Reply #202 on:** 03/13/2011 09:57 pm »

Rocketguy, I did not have a rejection email either. Are we sure that they go out on Monday for lottery? I got rejection notices the other times, so wonder why not this time. It did say we would get one. Has anyone else on here got either one of the notices, besides one person? Just wondering.

Kassonian · « **Reply #203 on:** 03/13/2011 11:32 pm »

I got a rejection email for STS-133 so I've been expecting one for STS-134. Haven't yet received it so I'm in the same boat as you, TexasMomof2 and RocketGuy..

I'm wondering if maybe they are waiting for the response from Solaria's peers, the initial lottery winners, to see how many passes are left after Monday's sales. Maybe there will be enough passes left for a second round? Yes, I'm being hopeful..

msc · « **Reply #204 on:** 03/14/2011 12:34 am »

That must be so. Not every one will order 6 tickets. But they can't notify more people than would buy all the tickets if every one bought six. How would you like to be notified you have the opportunity to buy then get closed out? NASA doesn't want that either.

That's a long way of saying that their must be a planned second chance lottery. It just makes sense.

I think I saw something about that in the STS-133 viewing thread - that happened for 133.

cian · « **Reply #205 on:** 03/14/2011 12:22 pm »

Just got causeway tickets.

el_nino · « **Reply #206 on:** 03/14/2011 12:35 pm »

Quote from: cian on 03/14/2011 12:22 pm

Just got causeway tickets.

Me too!

holgar5 · « **Reply #207 on:** 03/14/2011 01:08 pm »

Quote from: el_nino on 03/14/2011 12:35 pm

Quote from: cian on 03/14/2011 12:22 pm
Just got causeway tickets.

Me too!

KSCVC and AHOF tickets are left only now. And I am coming from Europe, the flights are booked already. If someone has a spare causeway ticket please let me know!

ImperfectSense · « **Reply #208 on:** 03/14/2011 03:41 pm »

I just registered for a VIP package (Causeway viewing) from Florida Dolphin Tours. Their website states that they will take your confirmation, charge you ($180), but they will not know if you have a ticket or not until Kennedy tells them how many they are getting. The confirmation email that I got after registering made it sound like I was really confirmed for a ticket, so I got a little hopeful... then I called them, and they confirmed that they may not know how many tickets they have until the end of the month. I'll have my fingers crossed, but in the meantime if anyone has any Causeway tickets direct from KSC for sale I'll be happy to take one off your hands... If I end up not needing it, I may just hold onto it as a backup in case there is a scrub at the pad...

Furner · « **Reply #209 on:** 03/14/2011 04:30 pm »

So do I have this right, they are rationing out a portion of the causeway, VC and AHOF tickets each day of the sale?

If so, they certainly have learned from their past ticket sales experiences. I remember crashing the server on the first 132 sales attempt, and tickets selling out in 5 minutes on the second sales attempt.

ImperfectSense · « **Reply #210 on:** 03/14/2011 04:42 pm »

Quote from: Furner on 03/14/2011 04:30 pm

So do I have this right, they are rationing out a portion of the causeway, VC and AHOF tickets each day of the sale?

If so, they certainly have learned from their past ticket sales experiences. I remember crashing the server on the first 132 sales attempt, and tickets selling out in 5 minutes on the second sales attempt.

Kennedy Space Center direct ticket sales are by lottery, you register and if your name gets pulled you get the opportunity to order tickets. They also (as usual) will be allocating blocks of tickets for each of the two major tour companies (Florida Dolphin Tours and Gator/Gray Line). These companies normally just have a free-for-all when they post their tickets for sale, but this time FDT has opened up pre-registration, meaning you register and pay for the ticket, and once KSC tells them how many they are going to have they either confirm your reservation or cancel it and refund your money. Gator hasn't announced anything yet.

Furner · « **Reply #211 on:** 03/14/2011 05:09 pm »

Quote from: ImperfectSense on 03/14/2011 04:42 pm

Quote from: Furner on 03/14/2011 04:30 pm
So do I have this right, they are rationing out a portion of the causeway, VC and AHOF tickets each day of the sale?

If so, they certainly have learned from their past ticket sales experiences. I remember crashing the server on the first 132 sales attempt, and tickets selling out in 5 minutes on the second sales attempt.

Kennedy Space Center direct ticket sales are by lottery, you register and if your name gets pulled you get the opportunity to order tickets. They also (as usual) will be allocating blocks of tickets for each of the two major tour companies (Florida Dolphin Tours and Gator/Gray Line). These companies normally just have a free-for-all when they post their tickets for sale, but this time FDT has opened up pre-registration, meaning you register and pay for the ticket, and once KSC tells them how many they are going to have they either confirm your reservation or cancel it and refund your money. Gator hasn't announced anything yet.

I get all this, and I did register with KSC as I did in the past when I purchased tickets. It appears this time though that with the tickets that KSC is selling directly, they are not selling them all at once as they did in the past. I am just wondering if anyone else has any idea of what they are doing this time as it appears they are doing something different.

ImperfectSense · « **Reply #212 on:** 03/14/2011 05:24 pm »

Quote from: Furner on 03/14/2011 05:09 pm

Quote from: ImperfectSense on 03/14/2011 04:42 pm
Quote from: Furner on 03/14/2011 04:30 pm
So do I have this right, they are rationing out a portion of the causeway, VC and AHOF tickets each day of the sale?

If so, they certainly have learned from their past ticket sales experiences. I remember crashing the server on the first 132 sales attempt, and tickets selling out in 5 minutes on the second sales attempt.

Kennedy Space Center direct ticket sales are by lottery, you register and if your name gets pulled you get the opportunity to order tickets. They also (as usual) will be allocating blocks of tickets for each of the two major tour companies (Florida Dolphin Tours and Gator/Gray Line). These companies normally just have a free-for-all when they post their tickets for sale, but this time FDT has opened up pre-registration, meaning you register and pay for the ticket, and once KSC tells them how many they are going to have they either confirm your reservation or cancel it and refund your money. Gator hasn't announced anything yet.

I get all this, and I did register with KSC as I did in the past when I purchased tickets. It appears this time though that with the tickets that KSC is selling directly, they are not selling them all at once as they did in the past. I am just wondering if anyone else has any idea of what they are doing this time as it appears they are doing something different.

Oh, well, the only time they've done it this way before was STS-133, and if my memory serves me right they took about a week to a week and a half to finally email the last person yea or nay. I believe they have to stretch it out like this because they don't know how many tickets each selected person will buy. Let's say they have 10,000 tickets for sale, they can't just select 10,000 people and let them all call/order at once, because many will be buying tickets for their friends and family. So they select say 1,000 people, and sell maybe 3,200 tickets, and then they select another 1,000 people, and sell 2,000 tickets, etc etc until they finally run out of tickets, at which point they tell the rest of us "sorry, you're out of luck".

parham55 · « **Reply #213 on:** 03/14/2011 07:38 pm »

I'll be driving down to Florida for STS-134 from Missouri. My plan is to view the launch from Space View Park. It looks like arriving 12 hours early is within reason. Thoughts/suggestions? What is the parking situation in Titusville? Is parking on the street for extended periods allowed or do we have to worry about meters or time limits etc? Also, I'll have some empty seats in the car if anyone is interested, feel free to PM me. This is my first Shuttle launch so I won't exactly be in a hurry to leave.
Rob

John M · « **Reply #214 on:** 03/14/2011 08:35 pm »

Quote from: parham55 on 03/14/2011 07:38 pm

I'll be driving down to Florida for STS-134 from Missouri. My plan is to view the launch from Space View Park. It looks like arriving 12 hours early is within reason. Thoughts/suggestions? What is the parking situation in Titusville? Is parking on the street for extended periods allowed or do we have to worry about meters or time limits etc? Also, I'll have some empty seats in the car if anyone is interested, feel free to PM me. This is my first Shuttle launch so I won't exactly be in a hurry to leave.
Rob

Theres a grassy knoll just past the Wachovia, which is just past Spaceview. Thats where I was, theres a small public parking lot about 200 yards away. I parked there, and was back on 95 north within about 30 minutes. It was kind of a mistake I had to go the way I did, but caught a guy who knew some shortcuts. I got to Spaceview at about 8am, and it was FULL already, so I went on down to where I was at all day. Found it by looking at youtube, and Ive put my video on there as well.

texasmomof2 · « **Reply #215 on:** 03/14/2011 09:58 pm »

We stopped by Spaceview park for launch in Feb at noon to look with binoculars before heading to KSC with our tickets. For a 4 am launch, noon was already quite crowded. I would think this one will really be crowded. 12 hours may not be earlier enough!

solaria · « **Reply #216 on:** 03/15/2011 12:35 am »

Quote from: Furner on 03/14/2011 04:30 pm

I get all this, and I did register with KSC as I did in the past when I purchased tickets. It appears this time though that with the tickets that KSC is selling directly, they are not selling them all at once as they did in the past. I am just wondering if anyone else has any idea of what they are doing this time as it appears they are doing something different.

From detailed reading of the STS-133 thread, I understood that the first round of lottery winners were given a 48 hour 'purchase' window, to buy Causeway/VC/HoF tickets subject to availability. Causeway sold out in 12 minutes. After the 48 hours, more emails went out, and more people got the chance to buy. I don't think any Causeway tickets were held back or obtained after day one from everything I've read, there were only VC and HoF left at this point.

This time the purchase windows are 24 hour, as they have probably realised it became too drawn out.

If anyone is planning on STS-135 and they use a similar lottery system, I discovered the waiting room opens ONE HOUR before the 9am purchase time....and I have reason to suspect that being in there an hour early might help your chances of being pulled into the buying process sooner.

gcruz27 · « **Reply #217 on:** 03/15/2011 03:36 pm »

Just got a second chance email allowing me to buy tickets. Causeway tix will not be available for this sale. Has anyone bought tickets through a second chance opportunity? If so, was it difficult to get tickets? Was there a virtual waiting room?

janmb · « **Reply #218 on:** 03/15/2011 03:42 pm »

For sake of weather scrub contingencies, has anyone got any overview of the launch window for STS-134? As in how many days are available after the 19th...

robertross · « **Reply #219 on:** 03/15/2011 03:53 pm »

Quote from: janmb on 03/15/2011 03:42 pm

For sake of weather scrub contingencies, has anyone got any overview of the launch window for STS-134? As in how many days are available after the 19th...

It looks to be April 22rd, because of a Progress Launch (42P) on the 27th and dock 29th constraints. Progress 41P also undocks on the 26th.