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#760
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:21
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#761
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:22
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#762
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:24
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#763
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:28
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#764
by
padrat
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:28
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Anyone know if Larry is down here, or is still down here?
He is there yes, and is wearing the grey hat
Yeah, never saw him, but prob wouldn't recognize him if I did.
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#765
by
Jorge
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:29
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Michael Coats, Phil Engelauf, Cathy Koerner, Michael Lopez-Alegria, several other Flight Directors...
Also saw Michael Grabois in there, so assume trainers are in there, too.
Yeah, we were upstairs in the sim control area and went down to join them.
I think I saw you in the replay...over by the Surgeon console at one point?
Probably. I took a photo from a spot between there and the CAPCOM console.
"Before you leave this room for the last time, look around and make a memory..."
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#766
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:40
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I think I saw you in the replay...over by the Surgeon console at one point?
Probably. I took a photo from a spot between there and the CAPCOM console.
"Before you leave this room for the last time, look around and make a memory..."
Yeah, I'm not used to seeing those rooms empty on the monitors like they are (mostly) this afternoon. From a spectator's point of view, there were a few poignant moments here on Tuesday and Wednesday watching the CapComs for the different shifts sign off and reflect on the past and the present. Today seemed a little different, but that's from the outside looking in.
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#767
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:42
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#768
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:43
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#769
by
sitharus
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:49
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I'm a couple of years too young to remember STS-1, so STS has been the most visible space program of my life. It feels like we had a grip on the world of science fiction, and we're now losing that connection.
Thanks to all the crew at nasaspaceflight.com for their tireless coverage for the four years since I found out about this wonderful site, and especially to the L2 contributors, I've never seen such detailed information.
I hope whatever comes next can adequately fill those rather large boots.
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#770
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:51
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Looks to be stopped for a while. Two more.
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#771
by
psloss
on 21 Jul, 2011 19:58
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#772
by
Jester
on 21 Jul, 2011 20:09
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silly question, which webcam is that, i don't have it on my list ?
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#773
by
rocketguy101
on 21 Jul, 2011 20:10
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PAO - "Atlantis starts the beginning of the end of a journey that began with the aerodynamic testing of a craft called Enterprise in 1977, punctuacted by the maiden launch of Columbia in 1981, culminating this morning with a night flight to the Kennedy Space Center."
This has been bittersweet today. When I was a "co-op" student at Texas A&M, I worked at the TAMU wind tunnel. During my first stint I got to assist w/ a test to measure pressure in the speed brake and rudder area in preparation for the first testing of Enterprise on the back of the 747. Seems all the other wind tunnels w/ shuttle models were busy at the time, so we got the job. It was very exciting to work alongside NASA engineers (probably some Rockwell guys too, but to me they were all NASA--I was only a sophomore).
Turns out I can whistle very loudly with my tongue, and the engineers used me to "calibrate" the pressure transducers by having me stand in the test section near the model and whistle. They could tell which connections were good by seeing a response. That is my small contribution to the SSP!!! I did not go into aero, but took my mechanical engr degree into the oilfield.
Welcome home, Atlantis, and God bless all the Program workers.
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#774
by
mahannd
on 21 Jul, 2011 20:12
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silly question, which webcam is that, i don't have it on my list ?
I was about to ask the same thing
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#775
by
MadameConcorde
on 21 Jul, 2011 20:13
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Two weeks ago and now.
Two weeks ago Atlantis was alive.
Now she is inert.
Some high up in the power circles have sealed the orbiters fate.
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#776
by
Hog
on 21 Jul, 2011 20:22
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If I had the coin, I'd cut USA a check for $1,000,000,000. That should help them decide on the Commercial Shuttle possibility.
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#777
by
FinalFrontier
on 21 Jul, 2011 20:27
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I cannot wait until she is on display at KSC, really want to get up close and personal with her again
I was lucky enough to see STS 125 launch and Atlantis has always been my "favorite" orbiter.
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#778
by
Star-Drive
on 21 Jul, 2011 21:05
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I first came to JSC in February of 1981 after six years of college and ten years of training in the aerospace field already under my belt. I and my wife witnessed the STS-1 Columbia flight in the beginning of the flight operational portion of the Space Shuttle program and we witnessed the ending of the last flight STS-135 Atlantis this morning. I worked the electrical power systems on the Space Shuttle and my wife worked the flight software for the Shuttle’s computers and we loved most of the work and the people we worked with. It was a grand ride and we met a lot of really good and smart folks with equally high hopes for America’s space future. To all of them I salute you, your families and my fallen friends who have not been able to finish the journey with us. It was a privilege to serve here at JSC and I will miss these times till my own demise comes along in the future.
That said, when America’s spaceflight programs continues to be reset to zero every few decades as they have done in the Apollo Moon program and now the Space Shuttle program due to lack of leadership and petty politics, one gets the impression that the real powers that run this country don’t really want us to push very fast or very far into the space frontier. Considering that it took a lot of political capitol over the last 50+ years to reach common space fairing goals, then imagine, design, finance, build, debug, and finally put into operation the now two space infrastructures that we have and now are tearing apart with no near-term or certain replacement, one has to wonder why we even bothered. I would have been thrilled to have seen the Space Shuttle program be continually upgraded over the years and/or replaced with a fully reusable two-stage to orbit Shuttle-II system that would have done the Movie 2001 proud. Either way could have been accomplished by NASA, and/or the commercial folks with their own coin, but instead we are now scuttling the Shuttles with no equivalent replacement at hand or in the works, leaving us with no controllable access to the $100 billion International Space Station (ISS) that the US Tax payers paid for. So we now have to beg and pay the Russians $63+ million for each ride to get an astronaut to the ISS and back. And be reminded by the Russians today, (July 21, 2011) that it is now “The Age of Soyuz”! If you are not insulted by that state of affairs, well, you have lot less pride in the USA than I do.
IMO we don’t keep throwing away the means and trained personnel needed to accomplish our space fairing dreams when we collectively tire of our latest toys, unless we really don’t want to accomplish anything of real value to our species over time. So sure we can once again trudge up the space access hill a third time around building a brave new world built on the latest commercial/government space model fad if we are permitted to do so, but more than likely we will just watch it all be pulled back down again by another disruptive President, or when we lose interest in that approach, driven by the fact that we STILL can’t afford it, and/or stomach its safety risks using conventional rockets as compared to airliners. God, I hope the USA can find a way forward in the space exploration game in the near future, but it may end up that you had better speak Russian or Chinese if you want to immigrate to the Moon or other points in the solar system in the next 50 to 100 years. The fall of America is in progress…
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#779
by
Austin
on 21 Jul, 2011 21:13
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Two weeks ago and now.
Two weeks ago Atlantis was alive.
Now she is inert.
Some high up in the power circles have sealed the orbiters fate.
I feel your pain. What's frustrating is that it has now been 6 years since this decision was made - plenty of time for voices to be raised in protest. But alas, time has run out. John Young said a couple of weeks ago that he thinks the shuttles have more life left in them and should keep flying. I couldn't agree more. But it's sort of a mute point now.
I suppose all we can do now is try and look forward. As Mike Leinbach said today, "the sun will rise tomorrow morning." And we will fly again.
I was lucky enough to see STS 125 launch and Atlantis has always been my "favorite" orbiter.
