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Contributors: crookedindifference, bumerangue, propagandery, rocketmagic, rostenbach
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
5 Horrifying Facts You Didn't Know About the Space Shuttle
“Criticizing the Space Shuttle is like punching America in the face. After all, it’s been a symbol of national pride for thirty years. But many of my friends and I are celebrating yesterday’s piggy-backed final flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum…because a museum is where the shuttle belongs.”
Science Museum Oklahoma to commemorate Discovery shuttle
Science Museum Oklahoma will provide live coverage of Discovery, NASA’s Shuttle, being permanently moved to Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum at Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Va.
“Final Destination: Discovery’s Journey Ends,” will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, April 17.
To commemorate Discovery’s final journey, the museum, 2100 NE 52, will be streaming live coverage of Discovery’s move from Florida, atop a Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, to the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum in Virginia. The museum will also have multiple hands-on, space-based experiments and aerospace artifact stations available for guests with which to interact.
For more information, call in the U.S 602-6664, or visit www.sciencemuseumok.org.
An unprecedented up close, inside look in high-definition of space shuttle Atlantis as it was readied for “towback” from Kennedy’s Shuttle Landing Facility runway to Orbiter Processing Facility-1 following its May 26 landing on STS-132. After every shuttle landing, about 150 trained workers assist the crew out and prepare the shuttle for towing atop a large diesel-driven tractor to its processing hangar.
Via @spacefuture.
Space shuttle mosaic made with computer keys by Doug Powell.
In Preparation for Moving Retired Shuttles, NASA Crews Practice Heavy Lifting
NASA’s space shuttles have journeyed into orbit well more than 100 times, making more than 20,000 loops around the planet along the way. But their final journeys to Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and New York are a logistical feat all their own. NASA moves the shuttles on the back of a modified 747, but no one has shipped a shuttle like that in more than 20 years. So NASA is dusting off some old equipment at Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week, practicing the careful business of lifting spaceships.
Space shuttle Columbia part found in east Texas
The recent drought has ruined millions of acres of farmland in Texas, turning lakes into mud puddles, but in the East Texas city of Nacogdoches, authorities say, the drought may have done something good: Unearthed a piece of the space shuttle Columbia.
The object, which is about 4 feet in diameter, was found in a local lake. NASA says it is a tank that provides power and water for shuttle missions.
“It’s one of ours,” said Lisa Malone, a spokeswoman for the agency.
Space shuttle Atlantis, STS-135, lands at 5:57am at the Kennedy Space Center concluding 30 years and 135 missions. (Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel)
From the Orlando Sentinel newspaper 04/17/11
This panoramic view from the International Space Station, looking past the docked shuttle Atlantis’ cargo bay and part of the station including a solar array panel toward Earth, was taken on July 14, 2011 as the spacecraft passed over the Southern Hemisphere. Aurora Australis or the Southern Lights can be seen on Earth’s horizon and a number of stars are visible also.
CREDIT: NASA
Space Shuttle: Three decades in three minutes (by NPR)
Atlantis shuttle mirrored on American astronaut Mike Fossum’s helmet.
Shuttle-like space taxi would call Kennedy Space Center its homeport
Dream Chaser project could eventually mean jobs in ‘low hundreds’ for area
A Colorado company wants to base a fleet of small shuttle-like spaceships at Kennedy Space Center, a move that could yield dozens of new jobs on Florida’s Space Coast.
The Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser will blast off atop United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Launch Complex 41.
The reusable spacecraft will be able to ferry up to seven people to and from the International Space Station, or other destinations in low Earth orbit.
The Daily Planet at Discovery Channel website has a video report about the Dream Chaser. Watch it here.
At the End of the Space Shuttle, the Russians Have the Last Laugh
Even for die-hard space patriots, it’s hard not to appreciate the delectation Russia may be getting out of the end of the Space Shuttle program. Officially due in a little more than a month, the milestone won’t just mark the end of the United States’ domination of manned spaceflight. It will also mean that NASA will begin handing over 1.1 billion dollars to their former Space Race nemesis, the Russian Space Agency. That should about cover the cost of about 20 American trips to the Space Station through 2016 aboard Russia’s old trusty Soyuz spacecraft. That’s a $50 million round-trip ticket for each astronaut.
How Should We Remember the Space Shuttle?
There are a lot of self-described shuttle huggers who lament the disappearance of the space shuttle. It will certainly change the backdrop of daily life. While I’m part of the generation who has grown up with the Shuttle regularly launching and landing, I would not call myself a shuttle-hugger. It is a fascinating spacecraft, particularly in the way that it lands, but it has always seemed like a technology without a purpose.
