God Speed Atlantis! Come home safely!
How many of those folks at launch control and mission control are going to be jobless now? That is so unfortunate.
Wondering if anyone watched on ABC, CBS, or NBC. Looks like they waited til the last minute to start coverage, and there was a lot of yammering after that so I stuck with NASA TV. Might have watched on Fox News or CNN but those graphics were too much. Anyway, I wondered if maybe ABC used their own cameras and didn't rely only on the NASA TV feed, the way they did in the early shuttle days. You could tell their coverage was different and somehow more spontaneous since they had those different vantage points.
WOW! I have to say that with all the bad reports for weather the last few days I headed out not very hopeful. As the day wore on I think my spirits brightened just like the surroundings as clouds got lighter and it looked more and more like we were going to fly.
I think for that reason the launch didn't hit me as much as a sad event but as a celebration that anything can happen. Maybe it was the estimated million people watching live and so many more online that were willing the clouds to part and let Atlantis through. You could see as the morning progressed that was literally what was happening with a corridor of better weather keeping the storms to the NW or S. Would have been nice to have a little more blue sky but I don't think it could have gone better considering the chances 24 hours ago.
My wife has said for weeks that no shuttle goes up without delays. Perhaps that was what that last minute hold to check the vent retraction was, seeing if we could hold out for 1 (or 2 by that point) more days before the last flight. I think in the end though it was the realization that "now is the time" that let us launch and celebrate what has been a wonderful accomplishment.
I know that a lot of people have mixed emotions and I'm no exception. Certainly I think we are in agreement that it would be nice to be a little closer to "what's next" than we are now. Remember that we must not let the past perilize the present and prohibit us from future greatness. I think the best way to honor the shuttle program will be to have each of us do whatever we can to further space flight development and political support (this seems to be the biggest issue!) and make sure that the great things that the shuttle program has taught us are carried over to the next generation and next program.
Godspeed Atlantis!
What a great launch!
What a blessed day!
Just got back from causeway! It was amazing when the fault clicked in a T-31! Lots cheering and goodwill shouts in anticipation...then dead silence in the crowd and you could here a pin drop!
But Atlantis just wanted to give us all an extra exciting send off! She just couldn't let the last shuttle launch go without some heart stopping excitement!
Atlantis is the APOD! A great picture from a couple days ago by Bill Ingalls.
APOD links to an even larger picture than the one I attached for those that want to make a higher resolution desktop or something.
