STS-130 Endeavour: Viewing (Going to launch, etc.)

[jeff2space]

Launch viewing tickets go on sale Wednesday, January 6th at 9:00 am ET.  They have made changes to the online purchase process.  See the following website for more details: http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/space-shuttle-launch-viewing-tickets.aspx

[mceddiemac]

Launch viewing tickets go on sale Wednesday,

"guests will be randomly selected to proceed to the ticket selection page. Entry into the waiting room does not guarantee you NASA Causeway tickets"...Man do I hate this but I certainly understand it. Looks like the Dine with the Astronaut sales lag is nullified with the new queuing process. Thanks for the heads up!   

[mixologist07]

Hi Everyone,

As luck would have it, I found out that I have four congressional guest tickets to the STS-130 launch.  I am bringing some friends and family to the launch, and as a backup plan, purchased four LTT tickets this morning.  I found out about the others literally minutes later.

So, I now have four LTT tickets for grabs if any NSF members would like them.  Preference goes to members who are seeing their first launch.  I would like to move all four together, because I only have one LDA placard to send with the LTTs.

Please drop me a PM if you're interested.

[Stevo]

I made it through the virtual waiting room, was in the process of buying 2 Causeway tickets, and got BOOTED OUT OF THE SYSTEM!!!!! >:-(

By the time I got back in, there were only Visitor Center viewing tickets left. I couldn't see paying $80 for 2 tickets where you can't even see the pad.

[actionuiuc]

I miss the old ordering system.  In the past I've tried to get tickets and was successful every time.  How I miss dinner with an astronaut ticket packages.  At least they haven't instituted a lottery system yet.  I dislike those even more than a waiting room.

[smith5se]

I didn't even bother with the new system, website was so slow to load when trying to get on this morning it wasn't even funny and personally wish they'd go back to the old way of doing things. Ah well, I'll still be down there

GO ENDEAVOUR!

[shuttlefanatic]

I miss the old ordering system.  In the past I've tried to get tickets and was successful every time.  How I miss dinner with an astronaut ticket packages.  At least they haven't instituted a lottery system yet.  I dislike those even more than a waiting room.

Isn't the new system effectively a lottery?  More people are in the waiting room than can get tickets, and they're selected randomly...

[harper1249]

Didn't try the website but I was able to get causeway tickets through my congressman.  This will be my first trip down to see a launch and was wondering how best to plan for liftoff delays?

[smith5se]

Didn't try the website but I was able to get causeway tickets through my congressman.  This will be my first trip down to see a launch and was wondering how best to plan for liftoff delays?

To be safe plan to stay from say the 6th to the 14th... and hope if there is a bump its only a day or two.

[actionuiuc]

I miss the old ordering system.  In the past I've tried to get tickets and was successful every time.  How I miss dinner with an astronaut ticket packages.  At least they haven't instituted a lottery system yet.  I dislike those even more than a waiting room.

Isn't the new system effectively a lottery?  More people are in the waiting room than can get tickets, and they're selected randomly...

That's true.  Though the waiting room way lets you feel like you have more of a chance than if they picked your name from a hat (even if that chance is all in your head).  Seeing the refresh timer count down, page reloading, etc.     

[spacedog71]

Can anyone who wound up with Congressional tickets to STS-129 in November or STS-125 in May tell me: were they Causeway tickets, or did you wind up at Banana Creek?

It looks as though at least a few Congressional ticket holders at STS-119, STS-127 and STS-128 eventually made it to Banana Creek -- but they had so many scrubs, I figure they're aberrations in terms of standard procedure. I'm curious as to what a more crowded launch experience -- one with fewer postponements -- was like.

Historically there seems to be lots of chatter in the "Viewing (Going to launch, etc.)" threads from people with Congressional tickets in the lead up to the day of a launch, but no real follow ups from people on site or afterwards to say where they finally ended up.

(I've managed to acquire a pair of Congressional tickets, but I don't know if I'll have any idea which location I'll be going to prior to seeing which way the bus turns out of the parking lot that night.)

Thanks!

[Davidgojr]

Can anyone who wound up with Congressional tickets to STS-129 in November or STS-125 in May tell me: were they Causeway tickets, or did you wind up at Banana Creek?

It looks as though at least a few Congressional ticket holders at STS-119, STS-127 and STS-128 eventually made it to Banana Creek -- but they had so many scrubs, I figure they're aberrations in terms of standard procedure. I'm curious as to what a more crowded launch experience -- one with fewer postponements -- was like.

Historically there seems to be lots of chatter in the "Viewing (Going to launch, etc.)" threads from people with Congressional tickets in the lead up to the day of a launch, but no real follow ups from people on site or afterwards to say where they finally ended up.

(I've managed to acquire a pair of Congressional tickets, but I don't know if I'll have any idea which location I'll be going to prior to seeing which way the bus turns out of the parking lot that night.)

Thanks!

Hi Spacedog71,

I attended the launch of STS-128 in August from the Banana Creek VIP site.  I got my passes after putting a request in through my Senator's office.  I was bused to Banana Creek for each attempt including the first attempt where weather resulted in a scrub.

I was told by the NASA point of contact that the site one is selected to attend (Banana Creek or Causeway) is not selected until just a couple of days before launch and depends on both the person attendings affiliation and the availability of space at the site.  I also included that I would like to attend Banana Creek in my initial request which I made several months prior to launch.  I hope this helps!

[tractor]

Hi there,
I am planning to watch this launch (my first). I purchased causeway tickets for myself and 3 friends.
My friend and his wife are now saying they may not be able to go. I will only receive one placard, so if I wanted to sell these 2 extra tickets to somebody how would they get inside? Can I request an additional placard?  Can they arrive before they are required, or is there another transportation method available?

Sorry if this is off-topic or in the wrong section.

Thanks!

[shuttlefanatic]

I will only receive one placard, so if I wanted to sell these 2 extra tickets to somebody how would they get inside? Can I request an additional placard?  Can they arrive before they are required, or is there another transportation method available?

I've wondered this myself.  In theory, I think the buyer can purchase a single visitor center launch ticket, which will come with its own placard.  The causeway buses board from the visitor center, so once you get there, it shouldn't be a problem. 

For STS-119, I found it was possible to get onto KSC before they started checking passes, but that was an evening launch, and KSC was operating as usual in the morning.  For STS-130, that may not work. 

In any case, it's probably worth trying to request an additional placard before going to plan B.

[kermit]

The Visitor center launch tickets are sold out, according to the KSC web site.

[spacedog71]

KSCVC tries to make it sound like there's no getting anywhere near it on launch day without the right paperwork, but it's not like they've got a toll booth.

It would surprise me greatly if you couldn't just drive up to the box office on the afternoon of the 6th and ask for a parking placard to be used later that evening.

[Ford Mustang]

KSCVC tries to make it sound like there's no getting anywhere near it on launch day without the right paperwork, but it's not like they've got a toll booth.

It would surprise me greatly if you couldn't just drive up to the box office on the afternoon of the 6th and ask for a parking placard to be used later that evening.

You have obviously never been to KSC on launch day, or when launch preps are in work.  Security is tight from the time the crew arrives until her and her crew are in space.  They've got multiple sources of police enforcement (SWAT, KSC/CCAFS Police, etc) that are standing guard at all entrances on launch day.  If you don't have the paperwork, you won't be getting into the KSCVC on launch day.

[astrobrian]

KSCVC tries to make it sound like there's no getting anywhere near it on launch day without the right paperwork, but it's not like they've got a toll booth.

Not toll booths, more like security booths with guards who are on occasion carrying assault rifles to supplement their sidearm.

[Aobrien]

KSCVC tries to make it sound like there's no getting anywhere near it on launch day without the right paperwork, but it's not like they've got a toll booth.

Not toll booths, more like security booths with guards who are on occasion carrying assault rifles to supplement their sidearm.

Don't forget the helicopter that flies over when the crew is going to the pad

[spacedog71]

KSCVC tries to make it sound like there's no getting anywhere near it on launch day without the right paperwork, but it's not like they've got a toll booth.

It would surprise me greatly if you couldn't just drive up to the box office on the afternoon of the 6th and ask for a parking placard to be used later that evening.

You have obviously never been to KSC on launch day, or when launch preps are in work.  Security is tight from the time the crew arrives until her and her crew are in space.  They've got multiple sources of police enforcement (SWAT, KSC/CCAFS Police, etc) that are standing guard at all entrances on launch day.  If you don't have the paperwork, you won't be getting into the KSCVC on launch day.

Gator Tours dropped me off in the parking lot of an Orlando hotel at about four-thirty in the morning of August 25th, 2009, after STS-128's weather-related scrub a few hours earlier, with nothing but a blue KSCVC two-day ticket and an 800 number to call if I wanted to purchase a $35 ride back to the Visitor Center the next day to watch the rescheduled launch from the KSCVC grounds.

Instead, twelve hours later, I drove my rental car straight through the gates of the KSCVC, parked, walked up to the box office, bought an orange Launch Transportation Ticket for $20, and only then did I obtain a parking placard to place on my dashboard.

So maybe we're defining "launch day" differently, here. But at approximately 4:30 pm on August 26th, or less than eight hours before the rescheduled launch of STS-128, I most definitely had no paperwork and I most definitely did get into the KSCVC. Or at least as far as the box office, which is all I was suggesting in the first place.

There was no SWAT team. There were no KSC/CCAFS Police. There were no sidearms, or assault rifles, or helicopters. There weren't even parking attendants. I was completely unchallenged, the whole way in. Oh, I passed by all of the unmanned locations where there would eventually be guards. But they hadn't shown up yet.

Now, I don't doubt that I probably couldn't have gotten away with that a few hours later (pretending for the moment that they didn't call a valve-related scrub 90 minutes after I arrived on site). When I drove back in for the subsequent reschedule around dusk on Friday, August 28th (say, 8:00 pm or so, around four hours before the launch), they had indeed established a perimeter and I did indeed have to slow down once or twice to get waved through checkpoints.

There were also checkpoints in full effect when I arrived for STS-129 at around 7:30 am on November 16th, or about seven hours before that launch. So I may not have missed the establishment of the checkpoints on August 26th by very much.

Given today's developments this may be all theoretical anyway. And they may have gone full TSA in the meantime, this being 2010 and all. I would fully expect your mileage to vary. But if my experience in August was any indication, it would surprise me greatly if you couldn't just drive up to the box office on the afternoon of the 6th and ask for a parking placard to be used later that evening.