GO SHUTTLE GO!!!!

Posted by Thanos on July 4, 2006

Sixty seconds and counting….

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Six and half minutes in, 7000 + MPH, tanks separated, and all looking GREAT!

Launch Successful, what a beautiful, beautiful day. Here’s a link to a 12 minute video at Yahoo, you will have to sit through a short commercial first.

Category Categories: Freedom, Science  |  Comments 3 Comments »

3 comments

  1. Aknot says:
    July 5, 2006 at 9:58 am

    As I much as I love the Space Program and especially the Shuttle it pains me everytime it sits at the launchpad. This machine is such an engineering marvel I am amazed eveytime it lifts-off and returns but there has to be an easier/more dependable way to get into space. I was lucky enough to see a couple launches live (including a night launch) but now the odds for a scheduled launch are slim. Safety has to be the primary goal of a launch but it’s confusing when you hear that some weather could delay a launch but it will get a “GO” even if some readings are not normal. The shuttle was designed to leave our atmosphere, orbit the earth, and return but it must be one of the most delicate system built.
    Anyway, I am all for our Space Program and if you ever get a chance to see a launch take it. It is an event that won’t be forgotten, from the speed and power that is generated to the low rumble that you can feel instead of hear.

  2. Thanos says:
    July 5, 2006 at 6:07 pm

    Glad to hear from you Ak, I sometimes wish I lived in Florida too just for the launches. There is serious movement to retire the shuttle now, and much more important, open up space to private developement. If you hit Pournelle’s blog regularly he often attends meetings of an association specifically formed to create cheap, viable, and private alternatives to getting into space. I expect this to really take off now since President Bush has put empasis on private development, and NASA is now signed up for it as well. Expect great things in the second quarter of this century, because part of the deal is that NASA will start sharing tech and engineering with private, US companies. I also expect the impetus to space to grow as the Chinese and Russians advance their programs — it would be terribly stupid to lose high ground to countries that oppose you, and space is the highest ground of all.

  3. Aknot says:
    July 17, 2006 at 7:30 am

    I had the TV on to watch the Shuttle land and heard that they changed runways. It was arriving from the south over the Yucatan and Cuba. I ran outside in time to hear the double sonic-boom. Pretty impressive living in Tampa and hearing the sonic booms for the first time. Three launches viewed (one night-time), double sonic boom, and I saw the Shuttle/747 combo flying overhead while enjoying a day at Epcot.