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#60
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 00:25
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Sorry: didn't phrase my question right - what I should have asked was can you get to there from near the driveway that leads you into KSC? forgive the ignorance, but I've not been to CCAFs before. Or the 'Jetty Park' isn't it? EDIT: okay - just seen the link on post number one of this thread.
Since it is closing in on sunset and Freedom Star is not within range of the MarineTraffic.com tracking I don't think there is any way to see them tonight. Chris found out that Freedom Star should come in around midnight and there are no lights around the entrance to the port at Jetty Park to see when it comes in. I don't even know if you can get into Jetty Park after sunset.
Best bet is to go early morning to the locks on the West side of the Port Canaveral area. There are good graphics that show this on the start of page 2 of this thread. Today we found that another good place to be is in the little boat ramp park on Mullet road where it goes under the 401 bridge. You can see it pass by there and get lots of angles and then go over to the locks as it waits in the locks for a little bit.
Basically to get to the Port Canaveral locks you go on 528. If you are coming from Orlando you do not head toward KSC. You want to stay on 528 all the way until the SECOND Port Canaveral exit and then find Mullet road which backtracks along the port channel. Again, better graphics on page 2 of the thread.
And by the way, early morning means EARLY. People in the past had said they showed up at 6AM only to have one gone through the lock already. That was when both were docked overnight in the port and could only go one at a time. This time only one will be docked waiting until the morning so who knows when it might go through.
Best bet is to find out how to track it on marinetraffic.com. There is info on this in the very first post of the thread.
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#61
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 00:55
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A better screenshot of the route coming straight from 528 Eastbound to the locks for those that might try tomorrow morning.
This afternoon some people were also on the north side of the locks although I don't know how you get over there besides walking from 401 all the way over to the locks.
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#62
by
MATTBLAK
on 11 Jul, 2011 01:24
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Thanks guys!
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#63
by
Skywalker2011
on 11 Jul, 2011 03:04
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This afternoon some people were also on the north side of the locks although I don't know how you get over there besides walking from 401 all the way over to the locks.
We walked over the bridge while it was still down. That worked pretty well, apart from some stress that was created for the bridge man :-) Parking was on Mullet almost under the bridge.
Good luck watching the left SRB tomorrow.
Br,
Oliver
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#64
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 03:22
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#65
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 03:24
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#66
by
solaria
on 11 Jul, 2011 10:49
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6:50am Standing by, under the bridge, no sign of Freedom Star waking up yet...
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#67
by
Oystein
on 11 Jul, 2011 12:01
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6:50am Standing by, under the bridge, no sign of Freedom Star waking up yet...
Hi!
8:30am a guy with a radio here says.
Oystein
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#68
by
Bryan365
on 11 Jul, 2011 12:04
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Sitting in parking lot of boat ramp directly across from freedom star. Great view. No movement
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#69
by
Oystein
on 11 Jul, 2011 12:10
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Sitting in parking lot of boat ramp directly across from freedom star. Great view. No movement
Great. Sitting here at the 401 bridge.
Oystein
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#70
by
Bryan365
on 11 Jul, 2011 12:13
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We have movement
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#71
by
solaria
on 11 Jul, 2011 13:21
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So Freedom entered the dock c8:40, they detached the booster and are towing it up to Liberty star, waiting through the lock. Freedom still in lock.
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#72
by
norm103
on 11 Jul, 2011 14:41
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Anyone noices that freedom star didnt have the nose cone today
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#73
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 14:48
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Anyone noices that freedom star didnt have the nose cone today
If Freedom Star didn't have the nose cone (frustrum) they may have unloaded it while docked in the port. Yesterday we saw them unload the parachute reels to a truck from the same vantage Bryan365 mentioned. I have some pictures of that I can post later.
Glad to see it wasn't quite so early to move and people were able to see it.
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#74
by
jmcgauley
on 11 Jul, 2011 14:52
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Our USA tour guide at the Causeway on Friday told us the frustrums and the parachute reels were going to be offloaded before the booster came through the lock because of a issue with how low the ships could ride in the water. A river level issue or maybe they need to dredge? Didn't catch the "why."
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#75
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 15:28
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So Freedom entered the dock c8:40, they detached the booster and are towing it up to Liberty star, waiting through the lock. Freedom still in lock.
If anybody has pictures of this handoff that can post them it would be great. Looking at the Marinetraffic.com tracks for the ships shows some strange tracks.
I remember at one time there was some mention of issues they might have with the locks way back in the processing thread. Forgot about it until now when people mention the water levels, etc. I guess we were lucky yesterday as Liberty Star came through with frustrum and booster. Maybe it was the highest tide at that point and caused no trouble.
Looks like Freedom Star is now headed back out the East end of the locks, back under the 401 bridge and into the port area again. They usually tie up in the same port area that Freedom Star had the booster overnight at so maybe she is going to dock after the end of the mission, having handed off the booster to Liberty Star.
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#76
by
LostInSpace
on 11 Jul, 2011 16:54
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I don't think there is any issue currently with the locks. There are no advisories on the Army Corp of Engineer's website.
The locks WERE closed from Dec-April for installation of a manatee protection system. That is complete.
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#77
by
erichamion
on 11 Jul, 2011 16:57
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If anybody has pictures of this handoff that can post them it would be great. Looking at the Marinetraffic.com tracks for the ships shows some strange tracks.
I'm no photographer, and I was just using a phone. Still, I can post these to give a look until somebody puts up something better. The locks employees opened up the walkways on top of the gates, so these are from behind Freedom Star and a bit to her port.
Liberty Star stayed out of the locks. The SRB released from Freedom, swam up to Liberty, and was attached to her.
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#78
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 18:01
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If anybody has pictures of this handoff that can post them it would be great. Looking at the Marinetraffic.com tracks for the ships shows some strange tracks.
I'm no photographer, and I was just using a phone. Still, I can post these to give a look until somebody puts up something better. The locks employees opened up the walkways on top of the gates, so these are from behind Freedom Star and a bit to her port.
Liberty Star stayed out of the locks. The SRB released from Freedom, swam up to Liberty, and was attached to her.
I'm so jealous that you got to go on the lock walkways! That is a truly unique perspective of something that probably doesn't happen very often.
Very funny to see a rocket that just helped push the shuttle "uphill" being moved by a small 4 person boat!
Hearing everything that happened and that it wasn't quite as early as I expected I wish I had got up early and gone out. Oh well, back to the work I've been behind on for the last week...
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#79
by
stuart_wildcat
on 11 Jul, 2011 22:01
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Finally got a few pictures off our camera. Figure I'd post a few that are different than what others have shown.
Both of these are from when Liberty Star was docked Sunday in the middle of the port. The first shows the crane removing the third parachute reel and loading it onto a truck. The other two reels are already on the truck and covered in white. This is the same thing done overnight with Freedom Star although she had the frustrum removed also.
The second picture shows Liberty Star pulling out from the dock where she unloaded the parachutes and going over to the locks. Behind her is the ship Pegasus which does the ET transport.
