Category Archives: Uncategorized

Lighten up, Frances

Posted on July 26, 2011 by

As of yesterday, I posted my last set of pictures from the Houston tweetup and announced the latest tweetup registration. Since this blog was originally only meant to document my trip to the final launch, and has now lasted past the landing … Continue reading →

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You Can Do It Too.

Posted on July 25, 2011 by

I’ve always liked space, but my life kinda changed on June 10th when I got the notice I’d won the STS-135 Tweetup, only to be followed by winning a spot on the STS-135 Mission Tweetup. If you have been the … Continue reading →

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Mock ups

Posted on July 25, 2011 by

Our final stop on the most amazing tour was the building housing most of the to-scale mockups for training on the ISS, shuttle, soyuz, Orion, and any number of other craft. The room was like the convention floor of a civic … Continue reading →

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Lunch

Posted on July 22, 2011 by

After the simulators, we broke for lunch at Building 3, the JSC cafeteria. By then, all 30 of the tweeters were power hungry, meaning we all needed to recharge our phones. The rest of the day, any time we paused in a … Continue reading →

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NASA giving away Space-era Artifacts

Posted on July 22, 2011 by

Non-profit museums, colleges, and schools can request space shuttle tiles and other excess property from the NASA program at this website: GSAXcess. There is a multi-stepped process and frankly, I’m not sure exactly how to do it. But clearly you … Continue reading →

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Great Wrap Up

Posted on July 22, 2011 by

This blog here has an excellent collection of video and stills of the landing of Atlantis yesterday.

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World’s Most Educated Lunch Lady

Posted on July 20, 2011 by

Yesterday, I was lucky enough to get to meet and hear Vickie Kloeris manager of the Space Food Systems Laboratory at NASA. She’s a microbiologist with a masters in food science.  I’d not given much thought to what astronauts eat before. … Continue reading →

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Rocket Park

Posted on July 20, 2011 by
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This gallery contains 10 photos.

I said in the last post that our next stop after the SAIL in Building 16 was the Food Lab, but it was really Rocket Park. It is a Saturn V rocket housed in a very large building, with a … Continue reading →

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Welcome to Johnson Space Center

Posted on July 20, 2011 by

Started the day by driving to the Gilruth Center at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. First of all, we decided that people here can’t give directions. The directions said Gilruth was at the intersection of two streets, when it … Continue reading →

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Houston

Posted on July 18, 2011 by

I drove past the Sam Houston schoolhouse on the way to the airport, thinking that it took Sam probably a whole lot longer to get to Texas than it’s going to take me today to get to a city named … Continue reading →

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Chattanooga Airport

Posted on July 18, 2011 by

The Chattanooga airport is named Lovell Field and is reached via Shepard Rd., but neither has anything to do with astronauts. The airport was named in 1929 in honor of John Lovell, and was a farm owned by Dr. J.B. … Continue reading →

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RSS Retraction

Posted on July 16, 2011 by

On July 7, the day before Atlantis went up in the final launch, the Rotating Service Structure, which covers and protects the orbiter from the elements, was rolled back around 2-3 o’clock. The RSS retracted at so slow a pace, … Continue reading →

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Like MacArthur Said

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

A tweeter just posted this picture of a whiteboard in the astronaut ready room: Like Like General MacArthur’s promise of “I shall return,” American astronauts are not meekly accepting the current state of affairs: that the United States, for the first … Continue reading →

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And Another Launch Video

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

Here

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Fellow Tweeter gets her Launch Video on CNN

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

http://ireport.cnn.com/themes/custom/resources/cvplayer/ireport_embed.swf?player=embed&configPath=http://ireport.cnn.com&playlistId=633962&contentId=633962/0&

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Here We Go Again

Posted on July 12, 2011 by

While in Florida for the STS-135 launch tweetup, I got the confirmation that I won a spot at the Johnson Space Center STS-135 tweetup on July 19. So it looks like I’m going to Houston to fly the shuttle simulator … Continue reading →

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Sorry for the posting drought

Posted on July 12, 2011 by

I was overwhelmed at the launch, mostly just taking pictures, taking notes, tweeting, and watching. Friday night I crashed, Saturday and Sunday I traveled, and yesterday I worked and then our internet was out. So anyway, like the Return To … Continue reading →

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Sequence of Fortunate Events

Posted on July 10, 2011 by

Have you ever wanted to ask a shuttle astronaut, “What’s a launch like?” Well, here is a minute-by-minute, and sometimes second-by-second list of what they do. This kind of thing interests me a lot. If it doesn’t interest you, that’s … Continue reading →

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Follow Me On Twitter

Posted on July 8, 2011 by

I’m tweeting about this launch more than I’m posting here. We’re about 2 1/2 hours from launch so I doubt I’ll post before then. My twitter handle is @RennaW.

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Some Pictures From 1 Day Prior to Launch

Posted on July 8, 2011 by
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This gallery contains 24 photos.

Here’s just a quick collection of some shots from yesterday. I don’t have the time…no, scratch that…I don’t want to take the time to go through them because I want to do and experience things here. So enjoy.

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I’m here at NASA

Posted on July 7, 2011 by

Checked in at the badging office. So now I’m officially badged for access to the shuttle launch. We’re parked right next to the VAB, and I’m about 50 feet from the countdown clock. We’re doing introductions right now.

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Tomorrow’s News Tonight

Posted on July 6, 2011 by

I’m carpooling with some other people attending the tweetup that are staying in the Daytona area, and we’re leaving at 6AM. Activities start at 9AM and include meeting NASA bigwigs, astronauts, and Elmo from Sesame Street. We also will view … Continue reading →

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2 Days Until Launch

Posted on July 6, 2011 by

Or until the scheduled launch date, which may not end up being the launch. So perhaps I should re-title these updates. I’m posting from the luxurious Hilton Ocean Walk, overlooking the ocean, listening to the waves crash. Yep, it’s a … Continue reading →

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The Countdown Begins

Posted on July 5, 2011 by

COUNT BEGINS. Clocks at the Kennedy Space Center just began ticking down to Friday’s scheduled launch of Atlantis on the shuttle program’s final trek to space. The official countdown sequence started at 1 p.m. EDT inside Firing Room 4 of … Continue reading →

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Background Noises

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

I finally made an intro video for The Space Crowd project. I’m having no end of trouble uploading, but that is why I’m practicing. The Space Crowd is an independent film being made at the Tweetup about space fans. To … Continue reading →

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I Knew They Had Some Kind Of Agenda

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

Here is the agenda for the Tweetup, or what I’ll be doing on an hour-by-hour basis this Thursday and Friday. Moreover, what YOU the reader will be doing along with me. especially if you follow me on Twitter at @RennaW. … Continue reading →

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Astronauts Arrive

Posted on July 4, 2011 by

The four astronauts for Friday’s shuttle launch arrived today at Kennedy Space Center at 2:45 PM. They have begun quarantine to prevent any illness while on the mission. What a bummer if they carried strep throat to the ISS. Final … Continue reading →

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Viewing the Space Shuttle Launch

Posted on July 1, 2011 by

While a handful of people won the ticket lottery and will be viewing the launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis from the Causeway, Visitors Center, or Hall of Fame at KSC, what should the rest of humanity do? Where do you … Continue reading →

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7 Days Until Launch

Posted on July 1, 2011 by

It’s crunch time now. No more planning and preparing, I have got to start actually packing and getting ready to go out the door. I don’t have a hotel room yet. How sad is that? I’ve waited until the FRR … Continue reading →

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Launch Pads By Moonlight

Posted on June 30, 2011 by

This picture was part of the last gallery, but it is so beautiful I wanted to post it again.

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Cape Canaveral Historical Images

Posted on June 30, 2011 by
S62-05531

This gallery contains 69 photos.

My company, Tetra Tech, has worked at Cape Canaveral and Patrick AFBs for the past several years and one co-worker was given these great photos of launches from Cape Canaveral over the years.  He shared them with me. I put them in as … Continue reading →

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Out to Launch

Posted on June 30, 2011 by

I was going to save that post title for went I left town to head to the STS-135 liftoff, but realized I’ll still be posting here a lot. So I wouldn’t be “out” to readers of the blog. Last night the … Continue reading →

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Minotaur 1 to launch tonight from Virginia

Posted on June 29, 2011 by

Why wait until next week? You can watch a launch tonight. The Minotaur 1 was scheduled to launch last night, June 28, but the liftoff was scrubbed because of rain.  It’s rescheduled for tonight with the same launch window of … Continue reading →

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10 Days Until Launch

Posted on June 28, 2011 by

Holy moly, how did it get to be just 10 days ’til liftoff? July almost here already? I’m not prepared! My to-do list too long! The things I’ve ordered haven’t arrived.

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15 Days Until Launch

Posted on June 23, 2011 by

Welcome! I haven’t updated much yesterday and today, so in the mean time, please enjoy other posts. I like Stinking Badges, Acronyms, and Stamps the best. I’m thinking I need one on zombie space bats

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I Call It A Very Easy Distance*

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

These distances came from a shuttle photography website, so they may be slightly off, but the essence remains: we’ll be close. Distances to Pads       Viewing site                                                                         Pad A (mile)           Pad B (mile) Press Site 3.1 3.4 Barge Turn … Continue reading →

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Some Great Images

Posted on June 17, 2011 by

Since I can use all the images I want, I’ll just post a bunch I’ve been holding on to. If I wait to have a post to go with each one, I’ll run out of time before the launch. Is … Continue reading →

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Posted in Images, NASA history, Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Brief Shuttle History

Posted on June 16, 2011 by

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 →

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Posted in NASA history, Space Shuttle history, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Image Gallery

Posted on June 11, 2011 by

NASA has a wonderful gallery on their site of images taken during this final mission. I may add a few on here but thought anyone interested might want to access the entire gallery.

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