Our next stop was the Christopher C. Kraft, Jr. Mission Control Center, or Building 30. It’s also know by its call sign: Houston. As in the first word spoken on the moon, “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” … Continue reading
In the days preceding the final launch, KSC accepted stamped envelopes to hand cancel on the big day. They sold decorated envelopes and stamps (the Mercury issue with Alan Shepard) to make the covers there, but I presume they accepted … Continue reading
This gallery contains 31 photos.
I’ve done posts on the mission patch tradition in general (highlighting a few patches) and the STS-135 mission patch with symbolism explained. This examines some of the high and low points of patch design. I apologize in advance for any irreverence.
Here is a group picture of all 150 STS-135 NASA Tweetup attendees. It was just after 7:00 so we appeared on several national morning news shows who were doing live shots of the countdown clock. I’m about four over from … Continue reading
This gallery contains 31 photos.
I have lots of things I want to post to share the last few days with you, but all you really want to see are launch pictures, right? Right.
I thought I’d seen enough ‘super cool’ shuttle images in the past month to be a little jaded. I was wrong. Here is an incredible collection of shuttle pictures: historic, more recent, some slightly mundane, but some the best images … Continue reading
I hope you are as excited to watch this launch as I am, be it from Florida, the TV, or where I watched several: from my computer screen watching a NASA live link. And hopefully, I’ll be able to post … Continue reading
My mission patches arrived today! I ordered one for this mission, STS-135, and 3 others. I ordered STS-134 because I have 131, 132, 133, and now 135. But I have all those because I went to their launches. I didn’t … Continue reading
If some kid visits this page looking for info on the sunken city of Atlantis, they’re in for disappointment. NASA awarded the contract to Rockwell International to build Atlantis on Jan 1, 1979, so she’s a child of the 70s. … Continue reading
Stamp collectors around the world, like the rest of us, have been in love with spaceflight since it began. There are countless stamp collectors who specialize in space stamps, and likewise countries have issued countless space stamps for them to … Continue reading
The most recent shuttle orbiter built cost $1.7 billion. There have been six shuttle orbiters: Enterprise, Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour The average Space Shuttle launch costs about $450 million. At liftoff, an orbiter and External Tank carry 835,958 … Continue reading
Happy Juneteenth. Did I mention I love all kinds of history, not just space program history? I am so far behind in preparing for the Tweetup. I still need to re-send media releases, borrow and learn to use my brother-in-law’s … Continue reading
The Space Shuttle program was born only two months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. President Nixon had appointed a Space Task Group to plot the future US course in space earlier that year, and they … Continue reading
