Archive for the 'NASA' Category

Happy July 4th!

Tuesday, July 4th, 2006

STS-121 launch and persective Happy Independence Day to the good olâ€™ U.S. of A! Thanks to our soldiers stationed across the world who defend our liberty and this great nationâ€™s interests.

The Space Shuttle Discovery embarked on STS-121 today. It was fun to watch the launch live on HDNet in stunning High Definition TV. From the reports, the launch went without any incident to be concern about. Good news indeed.

Itâ€™s always fun to watch these launches for me as I took one of the â€œinsiderâ€ tours at Cape Canaveral that bring you literally to the base of the launch pads. It gives a better perspective as to how big the orbiter, external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters are in relation to pad and tower. It looks much bigger in person thats for sure.

Godspeed to the crew of STS-121.

Photo Credits: Bobby Coker, Jacob Langston - Orlando Sentinel

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Discovery Lands Successfully

Wednesday, August 10th, 2005

The Space Shuttle Discovery landed early this morning at Edwards Air Force Base. It was a perfect re-entry, glide and landing in California. They made a very difficult task look easy. Very impressive indeed. Glad to see the crew is back safe and sound and the mission was a success. I hope they will fix the foam problem soon so they will return to flight in the near future.

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STS-114 To Return Tomorrow

Monday, August 8th, 2005

In several hours the Space Shuttle Discovery will return to Earth. If the weather holds up, in the early AM hours of Monday it will make its de-orbit burn, reenter the atmosphere and land at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Thankfully the EVA to remove the gap fillers went off without a hitch and the shuttle appears safe for a return home. It has been fun to watch some of the spacewalks on NASA TV on DirectTV. I think it’s better to watch the the shuttle flights this way rather than on the news with 30 second clips and clueless reporters acting like they are space travel experts. Please keep the STS-114 crew in your prayers that the reentry and landing will go safely and smoothly.

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Shuttle Flight Pictures

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2005

Continuing with my theme of space travel recently, here is a cool site from NASA that has Hi-Res pictures and video from the current shuttle flight.

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Space Shuttle Discovery Launch

Wednesday, July 27th, 2005

The Space Shuttle Discovery successfully launched from Kennedy Space Center, FL on Tuesday morning. It was great to see the Space Shuttle back in space after the tragic Space Shuttle Columbia disaster a couple of years ago.

Hopefully the foam pieces that fell off the external fuel tank this time will not cause any serious problems for them. Fortunately NASA has procedures in place including spacewalks to fix this type of issue.

I have a great interest in the space missions that NASA attempts and one day would like to visit space myself as a “space tourist” so-to-speak. Who knows, that may even be affordable in my lifetime.

It was especially fun to see the launch this time as I visited Kennedy Space Center in January of 2004. If you ever get the chance, take a tour of the Space Center and spend the extra $20-$30 to take the “inside” tour that takes you to see the assembly of the International Space Station modules and literally right next to the launch pads, Vehicle Assembly Building and runway. You are not a mile away, but literally next to these sites on a tour bus. I enjoyed it immensely and took large number of pictures.

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