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#200
by
Overflow
on 03 Nov, 2014 01:35
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Saw Atlantis again today. Still as beautiful as ever. KSCVC has been taking great care of her. However, I did notice that some small details of her exhibit were beginning to wear and tear.
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#201
by
Ronpur50
on 03 Nov, 2014 04:44
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Well, that at least means they are seeing a lot of foot traffic. What sort of wear and tear did you observe? And did you try the slide now that they let adults do it?
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#202
by
Overflow
on 03 Nov, 2014 09:54
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I did try the slide this time. Last time I went the slide wasn't even open yet.
And I noticed that some of the simulations didn't always work right, one or two of the touch screens froze up, the tires from STS-135 were a lot more worn down now (expected), at one point the flat screen behind Atlantis spazzed out for about two seconds (a small random fuzzy line appeared).
I did notice that Atlantis was not nearly as dusty as Discovery. Discovery had a layer of dust on her and cob webs between her elevons. I didn't see any layer of dust or cob webs on Atlantis. However I did see very small dust bunnies on the very tips of Atlantis' wings. But those could only be seen if you were looking for them.
All in all, still an absolutely amazing exhibit. We were actually the first people to go through it yesterday. Then a couple hours later after we did the tour, Saturn V Center and grabbed lunch. We got off the tour bus, looked at the stacks and both said to each other, "Wanna do it again?!" and we went through another time. lol
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#203
by
Naito
on 07 Nov, 2014 12:18
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Watched STS-132 launch from the causeway back in 2010, going back to visit Atlantis next week ! Any special parts I should pay particular attention to? Extra detailed picture requests? Suggestions for must-see tours while we're at KSC?
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#204
by
Zakrah
on 07 Nov, 2014 13:02
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I resisted looking at this topic until I could see her for myself. I was lucky to have time to make the visit on Wednesday morning. It was just before 10am and there were only 5 other people in my group for the introductory video.
The unveil after the vid is absolutely perfect. They have a photographer as you approach the Atlantis but there was no way I wanted my picture taken with tears on my cheeks. Thank you KSC for putting in so much thought and care into the exhibit, well done indeed!
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#205
by
Ronpur50
on 07 Nov, 2014 13:30
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I am not sure what it is about the air conditioner there, but it does seam to make me cry every time I go to see Atlantis. It is weird!
Great picture of the ET-SRB stack. I never looked at it from that angle before!
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#206
by
brettreds2k
on 10 Nov, 2014 16:17
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My wife and I went to see Atlantis last week for my second time, We went last November and again the first week of November, Atlantis looked amazing as she did last year, they seem to be taking great care of her. I did talk to one of the guys working the exhibit and he was telling me how he used to work on Columbia and had a peice of her in his hand that doctors say is to risky to remove, so I said to him "Columbia lives on through you then sir" and he looked at me and you could tell that hit him and he smiled and said, Yup.
Oh and I had tears in my eyes as the wall lifted just as I did the first time last year!!
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#207
by
meat10af
on 14 Nov, 2014 21:43
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I saw
Atlantis again last weekend! She's looking really great after over a year on display. In fact, I saw less dust on her this time than I did back in May. Her TPS is holding up just fine so far as I can tell, and it seems like there haven't been any problems with anything falling/spilling on her from the upper floor. Well done, KSCVC!
I have a few photos from my phone I think the regulars on this thread will enjoy...
I've found that
Atlantis photographs best using panoramic views. The museum keeps you in rather close quarters with her, so panoramas are really the only way to photograph her entire form. The last one of these is actually a composite featuring yours truly. I had to do a composite of a few images because someone stepped in front of the camera last minute.
Oh, one more tip for photography: wait until just before closing time (when KSCVC is clearing out). You get a much clearer view of the orbiter that way.
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#208
by
dave1938
on 14 Nov, 2014 22:04
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GREAT pictures meataf10 !!!
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#209
by
meat10af
on 14 Nov, 2014 22:17
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Thanks, dave1938!
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#210
by
Ronpur50
on 14 Nov, 2014 22:33
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Those are fantastic!
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#211
by
Naito
on 16 Nov, 2014 02:25
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I just came back to my hotel from seeing her today. That intro video nearly brought tears to my eyes, thank you KSCVC for taking such great care of Atlantis and truly doing justice to her majesty.
I'm just starting to sift through my pictures now, but there's one pic I'm particularly proud to have captured:
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#212
by
dave1938
on 16 Nov, 2014 02:56
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Excellent shot of Panel C3 thru the CDR side window!!! Congratulations. The lighting varies so quickly either you got very lucky or you had many failed attempts!
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#213
by
Naito
on 17 Nov, 2014 01:35
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Thanks Dave! Was a combination of both luck and stubbornness, I shot about 32GB of pics and videos from two visits yesterday =p
A couple more low-res pics....hoping to stitch together a super-high res panoramic of Atlantis when I get home.
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#214
by
dave1938
on 17 Nov, 2014 12:36
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Very nice, thanks for posting.
I am a docent at the Atlantis most Sunday (Apollo Saturn Five Saturdays). I very much enjoy meeting people from all over the world. After 42 years at KSC (except 4 years in Ca. on the Shuttle design team) as a Aerospace Engineer, I have a lot of stories to share. I hope to meet you there some day.
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#215
by
Naito
on 18 Nov, 2014 01:04
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Damn, I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to meet you Dave, I was at the KSC only one day on Saturday, was at the Saturn V building between about 2 and 3:30. Last time I was there for 132 I spent the entire week at KSC, but this time I had my wife and baby so couldn't set aside more time.
Wish I had known you were there so I could shake your hand and thank you in person for all the work you guys did and continue to do. Please post some of those stories on here, I think I speak for everyone on NSF when I say there can never be too many of them!
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#216
by
Naito
on 19 Nov, 2014 14:15
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Work in progress for my "ultra high resolution" panorama stitch
Have to do this in sections or else my computer runs out of memory lol. 185 megapixels and counting....
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#217
by
Ronpur50
on 19 Nov, 2014 14:23
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That is amazing!!
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#218
by
Naito
on 21 Nov, 2014 04:20
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There, almost perfect. Here's just over 300 megapixels of Atlantis in all her glory.
Wish I used a tripod so I could've used a lower ISO and smaller f-stop for better depth of field, but I'm pretty damn thrilled with this as is!
Decided not to put a watermark on it, the beauty of Atlantis should be shared with everyone =)
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#219
by
roma847
on 21 Nov, 2014 06:50
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Oh, one more tip for photography: wait until just before closing time (when KSCVC is clearing out). You get a much clearer view of the orbiter that way.