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#780
by
Champ7AC
on 22 Jun, 2011 14:05
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As others have said - would you really want to run that high a risk for something this important?
If the flight is even a TINY bit delayed, you miss an event you will never again be able to go to....
I'm flying into Orlando 2 days before launch - for precisely that reason. Delayed flights could very well have cost me the launch of 134 if it had gone on time - not making that mistake again.
We are also coming out on the 6th, although we're driving (LOL). Wanted to be there in time to take the bus tours out to see her, plus spend some quality time gazing from the observation gantry.
Yeah, driving would've made the decision somewhat easier... then again, it would obviously take even longer.
I've gotta watch my vacation so that's the main reason we're not arriving any sooner. With a honeymoon coming up quickly (and I only get 2 weeks per year) there's not a ton to burn right now, unfortunately.
Anyway, as posted earlier ITT, the crazy-cutting-it-close flight schedule was just that and I booked different flights. Hopefully it all works out!
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#781
by
ysuindy
on 22 Jun, 2011 14:26
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Hi, I looked at the info and bookmarked some things on page 10. Thanks.
I know the LTT buses go to the causeway around 2 hrs prior to launch. How soon after launch do they return? I have a buddy w/ 1:50 tickets to the Today and Tomorrow tour. Surprised they're doing the tour right after a launch. Not sure why I'm surprised, just surprised.
I'm guessing it's better to stick around a while then to leave KSC right away. Or, maybe everyone else will think that too.
LTT busses will leave shortly after the launch. Of course there are a lot of busses to get out and the VIP traffic has priority. And without knowing how many busses there will be, don't know how long it will be. That being said, I would think getting back for the 1:50 tour should not be an issue.
As for sticking around KSC - if I were going, I would probably decide I would rather be inside KSC than sitting in the parking lot or on the road going nowhere. At least the seats in the movie theaters are comfortable and air conditioned.
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#782
by
Foochar
on 22 Jun, 2011 15:04
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I know that the KSC tours (most specifically the Then & Now tour) are already sold out for 7th July; but what are thoughts on whether or not we will get on one if we simply turn up at KSC early in the morning and wait for availability?
My assumption is that there will definitely be people who either can't make it but don't cancel, or simply miss their slot.
Would love a tour trip that close to the pad, but we didn't book beforehand because the plan until now was to fly out on the 7th.
Can't say how likely a cancelation is, however going "standby" for the Cape Canaveral: Then and Now Tour is probably a pretty iffy proposition given the security requirements for that tour (requires photo id, passport from international visitors etc. because it goes onto a military facility, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). I'm not sure how close you've looked at the three Kennedy Center tours, but I thought I would share a few observations from my trip to see the first attempt of STS-134 (when it was scrubbed for the heater issue)
My understanding is that the "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now" tour doesn't get you particuarlly close to the pads. I didn't take that tour when I was there (booked a ticket to take it on 7/9 while I'm in Florida for STS-135) , but my understanding is that it spends most of its time in the Cape Canaveral areas. It might include a stop on the causeway, I'm not sure about that.
The "Discover KSC: Today and Tomorrow Tour" is scheduled to include the Camera A/B stop which is the closest any of the tours get to the pad and gives you a view of the external tank side of the STS stack. I took the Today and Tomorrow tour the Sunday after the Friday scrub and for safety reasons they did not make the camera A/B stop that day. We did stop on the Causeway, I'm not 100% sure if that is a regular stop for that tour, or if it was included as a "replacement" for the A/B stop. If the RSS has been rolled back the causeway allows for a view of the orbiter on the pad.
The "standard" tour that is included with admission stops at the LC-39 viewing gantry (as do the other two tours I believe), which gets you pretty close (about 1.25 miles) to Pad A. Regardless of RSS position you can not see the orbiter from the viewing gantry. You can see the top of the external tank and SRB above the RSS. This tour runs about every 15 minutes so it is never really "sold out"
Depending on operational considerations it is possible that some of the stops may be removed from the tours. The viewing gantry is within the blast danger area when the shuttle is fueled, I'm not sure how far ahead of tanking operations they remove that stop from the tour, or how far into detanking and interting they have to be before they put that stop back on the tour.
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#783
by
debrarr
on 22 Jun, 2011 15:10
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Sorry, I meant the Today & Tomorrow, not the Then & Now (confusing).
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#784
by
cycleroadie
on 22 Jun, 2011 15:21
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A little followup on the tours :
The Today and Tomorrow tours always goes to the causeway, it is a regular stop. However the RSS is in place except for just after rollout to the pad, payload loading, and in the event of a tanking test like we just had of course, and of course about a day prior to launch. So most of the time you won't see the orbiter on that tour either. It'd be your lucky day if you did !
Most days the tour does make the A/VB camera stop, usually only when there is potential danger (just after detanking, etc.) is it bypassed.
The Then and Now tour takes you to pads located inside of Cape Canaveral, Pad 34, where the Apollo 1 fire occured for one example. You do not go out near Complex 39 where the shuttle launch.
Neither of those tours stops at the Launch Complex 39 viewing gantry, they both end at the Apollo Saturn Center. The normal free tour makes that stop.
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#785
by
debrarr
on 22 Jun, 2011 15:31
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Can't say how likely a cancelation is, however going "standby" for the Cape Canaveral: Then and Now Tour is probably a pretty iffy proposition given the security requirements for that tour (requires photo id, passport from international visitors etc. because it goes onto a military facility, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station). I'm not sure how close you've looked at the three Kennedy Center tours, but I thought I would share a few observations from my trip to see the first attempt of STS-134 (when it was scrubbed for the heater issue)
The "Discover KSC: Today and Tomorrow Tour" is scheduled to include the Camera A/B stop which is the closest any of the tours get to the pad and gives you a view of the external tank side of the STS stack. I took the Today and Tomorrow tour the Sunday after the Friday scrub and for safety reasons they did not make the camera A/B stop that day. We did stop on the Causeway, I'm not 100% sure if that is a regular stop for that tour, or if it was included as a "replacement" for the A/B stop. If the RSS has been rolled back the causeway allows for a view of the orbiter on the pad.
The "standard" tour that is included with admission stops at the LC-39 viewing gantry (as do the other two tours I believe), which gets you pretty close (about 1.25 miles) to Pad A. Regardless of RSS position you can not see the orbiter from the viewing gantry. You can see the top of the external tank and SRB above the RSS. This tour runs about every 15 minutes so it is never really "sold out"
Thanks for the info - have read briefly about them on the KSC website but it's good to hear it from experience.
Yeah, the backup plan will just be to take the free tour to the Gantry, as this was a nice view last time.
But I'm not sure on the security precautions for the Today & Tomorrow tour. It doesn't require passports as far as I know, so i'm just wondering how they would deal with spare places etc..
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#786
by
bookemdano
on 22 Jun, 2011 15:31
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A little followup on the tours :
The Today and Tomorrow tours always goes to the causeway, it is a regular stop. However the RSS is in place except for just after rollout to the pad, payload loading, and in the event of a tanking test like we just had of course, and of course about a day prior to launch. So most of the time you won't see the orbiter on that tour either. It'd be your lucky day if you did !
Most days the tour does make the A/VB camera stop, usually only when there is potential danger (just after detanking, etc.) is it bypassed.
The Then and Now tour takes you to pads located inside of Cape Canaveral, Pad 34, where the Apollo 1 fire occured for one example. You do not go out near Complex 39 where the shuttle launch.
Neither of those tours stops at the Launch Complex 39 viewing gantry, they both end at the Apollo Saturn Center. The normal free tour makes that stop.
Yep that's exactly right. Even though there's some overlap, it is definitely worth doing the free tour even if you do either or both of the paid ones so you can go to the viewing gantry.
Good luck to all of you heading out there. I picked STS-133 for my launch experience thinking there would be less chance of scrubs due to the winter launch--boy did Discovery throw a wrench in that assumption! But it was well worth every minute and dollar spent to see her on the pad and lifting off for the final time.
If I had more time and money I'd definitely head down for this one too, but I feel content just getting to see one go up. I hope you don't get any scrubs, but if you do it will be worth any sacrifices you have to make to stick around/come back for the launch.
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#787
by
Foochar
on 22 Jun, 2011 15:59
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A little followup on the tours :
The Today and Tomorrow tours always goes to the causeway, it is a regular stop. However the RSS is in place except for just after rollout to the pad, payload loading, and in the event of a tanking test like we just had of course, and of course about a day prior to launch. So most of the time you won't see the orbiter on that tour either. It'd be your lucky day if you did !
Most days the tour does make the A/VB camera stop, usually only when there is potential danger (just after detanking, etc.) is it bypassed.
The Then and Now tour takes you to pads located inside of Cape Canaveral, Pad 34, where the Apollo 1 fire occured for one example. You do not go out near Complex 39 where the shuttle launch.
Neither of those tours stops at the Launch Complex 39 viewing gantry, they both end at the Apollo Saturn Center. The normal free tour makes that stop.
Not sure if they've changed the tour or if it was added as a replacement for the A/B stop, but I know for certain that when I took the "Today & Tomorrow" tour on 5/1 that it included the gantry after stopping at the causeway and before a photo op at the VAB.
The biggest issue with trying to do the tour "standby" would be that there really isn't any facility setup at the bus loading area to sell a ticket. The Today & Tomorrow tour stays on NASA property, and I don't recall there being any security restrictions on that tour. If someone rescheduled a tour (I've seen them do this at customer relations if someone booked a conflicting set of "Today & Tomorrow" and "Then and Now" tours for example) you might be able to pick up their slot at customer relations. If you wanted to try and do this you would probably want to check in with customer relations on a recurring basis that day to see if there were any openings.
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#788
by
DrGuano
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:02
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Out of curiosity, where is the A/B Camera stop?
On the topic of scrubs, I was thinking about a comment my colleague made after the launch of STS-130. He commented that having gone through the scrub the night before made watching the launch far more emotional. I agree after going to KSC three days and not seeing STS-127 launch and waiting a week to watch STS-128 it was quite cathartic to watch STS-130 go up on an early, cold February Florida morning. That said, I would love to see Atlantis go right on schedule. but if it doesn't...you may find it even more impressive to watch when it does.
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#789
by
cycleroadie
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:02
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FYI everyone : "Currently, STS-135 is targeted to launch on July 8 at 11:26 a.m. EDT (15:26 UTC). We have the option for two launch attempts in three days (July 8-10) before the launch team would have to stand down for a Delta IV rocket launch scheduled for July 14. The Eastern Range is unavailable from July 11-15. The next window would extend from July 16-31. "
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#790
by
cycleroadie
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:04
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Out of curiosity, where is the A/B Camera stop?
On the topic of scrubs, I was thinking about a comment my colleague made after the launch of STS-130. He commented that having gone through the scrub the night before made watching the launch far more emotional. I agree after going to KSC three days and not seeing STS-127 launch and waiting a week to watch STS-128 it was quite cathartic to watch STS-130 go up on an early, cold February Florida morning. That said, I would love to see Atlantis go right on schedule. but if it doesn't...you may find it even more impressive to watch when it does.
It's right on the beachline, about halfway between pads 39 A and B.
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#791
by
seattlite
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:09
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Looking at past Atlantis launches, looks like Atlantis has a pretty good record for successful first launch attempts:
STS-132(A) MAY 14 success
STS-129(A) NOV 14 LAUNCH almost delayed to NOV 17 due
to a “other” schedule problems.
STS-125(A) May 11
STS-122(A) DEC 7 fault 2 day slip
DEC 9 fault 2 month slip
FEB 7 success
STS-117(A) JUNE 8 success
STS-115(A) SEP 8 fault
SEP 9 success
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#792
by
bidptl
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:13
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has anyone received tickets (from KSC lottery) yet ??
Wasn't it sent our 15June as said in their sales confirmation email ??
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#793
by
cycleroadie
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:14
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Pic off my phone from the A/B Camera stop, sorry all my good pics are home !
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#794
by
solaria
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:15
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NASA have tweeted this. Is there any chance they would go back on this? If it were scrubbed on both 8th and 10th for weather reasons, wouldn't they prioritise the shuttle and try it on 12th and/or 14th? Obviously if technical/investigations/any other scrub reason they'd stand down the shuttle and let the Delta go - but my impression from STS-134 is that they had made lots of statements about window-availability and clashes with other things - but then seemed to say they could move most other things for it (except Soyuz
). Eg 5th-11th May was originally a clash with something but then available. Just wondered if anyone had "odds" on whether they might do the same here (dangerous question I know!)? Was going to book 6th-15th flights (from UK) but now don't know what to do :-(
PS Wheres the best place to view the rocket launch from, assuming you can see it from public land somewhere? Jetty park is near my hotel, which end of Canaveral do they launch from?
FYI everyone : "Currently, STS-135 is targeted to launch on July 8 at 11:26 a.m. EDT (15:26 UTC). We have the option for two launch attempts in three days (July 8-10) before the launch team would have to stand down for a Delta IV rocket launch scheduled for July 14. The Eastern Range is unavailable from July 11-15. The next window would extend from July 16-31. "
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#795
by
Endeavour Forever
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:18
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has anyone received tickets (from KSC lottery) yet ??
Wasn't it sent our 15June as said in their sales confirmation email ??
Received an e-mail notification overnight that KSC launch lottery tickets are shipping today (Wednesday) via 2-day FedEx service, the e-mail included the tracking number.
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#796
by
msc
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:29
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Regardless of RSS position you can not see the orbiter from the viewing gantry. You can see the top of the external tank and SRB above the RSS.
Is this right? Maybe my geometry skills are rusty, and maybe its just too tough to judge from Google Maps. But from my recollection of the view from the Observation Gantry (when then RSS was in position around Endeavor), my mind's eye tells me that if the RSS had been in park, I would have been able to see the Orbiter.
But a check of our Google overload fails to reveal any pics that appear to have been taken from the OG that have the orbiter in view. Huh. Surprising.
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#797
by
cycleroadie
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:33
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NASA have tweeted this. Is there any chance they would go back on this? If it were scrubbed on both 8th and 10th for weather reasons, wouldn't they prioritise the shuttle and try it on 12th and/or 14th? Obviously if technical/investigations/any other scrub reason they'd stand down the shuttle and let the Delta go - but my impression from STS-134 is that they had made lots of statements about window-availability and clashes with other things - but then seemed to say they could move most other things for it (except Soyuz ). Eg 5th-11th May was originally a clash with something but then available. Just wondered if anyone had "odds" on whether they might do the same here (dangerous question I know!)? Was going to book 6th-15th flights (from UK) but now don't know what to do :-(
PS Wheres the best place to view the rocket launch from, assuming you can see it from public land somewhere? Jetty park is near my hotel, which end of Canaveral do they launch from?
This is an Air Force bird that I believe has already been delayed once? I have not heard anything about possibly bumping the Delta IV launch, and from that email I received earlier, I do not think anything is coming down the pipe to change that (though anything is possible). As far as advice what to do? You take your chances when you try to see a launch, I had to make two trips to Florida to see 133 finally go. It will launch when it will launch, you just have to make the most of it either way. KSC is a great place to visit anyway. Hopefully all will go as planned on 7/8 but you never know. I'll have to let someone else chime in on the best place for Delta launch viewing, I saw one Canaveral launch, MANY years ago !! lol !!
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#798
by
mahannd
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:36
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Is this right? Maybe my geometry skills are rusty, and maybe its just too tough to judge from Google Maps. But from my recollection of the view from the Observation Gantry (when then RSS was in position around Endeavor), my mind's eye tells me that if the RSS had been in park, I would have been able to see the Orbiter.
But a check of our Google overload fails to reveal any pics that appear to have been taken from the OG that have the orbiter in view. Huh. Surprising.
nope, you cant see it. and i was on the far right (south side) of the top of the gantry up that little flight of steps.
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#799
by
msc
on 22 Jun, 2011 16:51
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Is this right? Maybe my geometry skills are rusty, and maybe its just too tough to judge from Google Maps. But from my recollection of the view from the Observation Gantry (when then RSS was in position around Endeavor), my mind's eye tells me that if the RSS had been in park, I would have been able to see the Orbiter.
But a check of our Google overload fails to reveal any pics that appear to have been taken from the OG that have the orbiter in view. Huh. Surprising.
nope, you cant see it. and i was on the far right (south side) of the top of the gantry up that little flight of steps.
Not sure what you're talking about - I can see the tail clear as day!! LOL.
Thanks for the picture and definitive proof for my doubting mind!!
). Eg 5th-11th May was originally a clash with something but then available. Just wondered if anyone had "odds" on whether they might do the same here (dangerous question I know!)? Was going to book 6th-15th flights (from UK) but now don't know what to do :-(