What I did tonight.... (56k order a pizza)

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

Discovery… STS 119…
My sisters boyfriend works for the inspector general’s office (for NASA) so we got to go sit about 2 miles away from the launch… I took a bunch of pics, I’ll upload and post them throughout the next 20 minutes…

Our Pass into the closest possible place to watch from.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Willybeen/IMG_3943.jpg
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Coming into the VAB area… (its 50 stories high, one of the largest volume buildings in the world)

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Right before lift off

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the next bunch of pics are a few of the ~100ish pics i took (in sequence)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Willybeen/IMG_4018-Copy.jpg
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It goes STRAIGHT up then turns and looks like its heading parallel to the ground… 2 minutes after liftoff, they announced that it would need to land in spain if there was any problems… within ~3 minutes it was going over 10,000 mph… unreal… soo impressive.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Willybeen/IMG_4039.jpg
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Some cool shots of the VAB at night…

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Willybeen/IMG_4069.jpg
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These people were the VIP’s (relatives, etc etc…) They were further back, but were up on top of the building…
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/Willybeen/IMG_3970.jpg
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This was one of the coolest things I’ve ever done… I would definitely recommend it to anybody if they ever had the opportunity… I just wish I would have had a better camera… I took a video too… (but its poor quality, I’ll post it later if i can)

It sounded like a grand finale of a fireworks display. the sky was SOOO bright… its hard to explain…

Best way to describe it, was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAiCsK1Sndw <–the video I took. (might still be processing)

2

Very cool!

3

Awesome, can’t wait for more pics :slight_smile:

4

that would of been a real quickly made pizza lol

5

how loud was it?

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Sounded just like fireworks.

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video is on its side… is there a way to flip it?

8

Awesome… Definitely something I want to see before the shuttle retires

9

Wow. I had no idea a shuttle launch was so sweet.

10

Awesome. My brother in law and mother in law were there.

11

So, you said that there were problems and it wasn’t supposed to turn parallel to the earth? Was everything OK and that is what was supposed to happen??

Awesome pics BTW

12

everything went well. Crew is sleeping and will wake up at 9:13(Central time) to give their first status report

13

it used to be a big deal when this happened. I had not heard anything about this.

Maybe I am just busy at work and blocking everything else out.

Cool pics, thanks for keeping me in the know.

14

wow that’s awesome! i’d love to do that some day

15

Wow, thats is super cool. Definitly on the bucket list.

16

:tup:

17

Lol, anyone remember The Simpsons episode where homer went into space?

Tom: It’s a lovely day for a launch, here, live at Cape Canaveral, at the lower end of the Florida Peninsula, and the purpose of today’s mission is truly, really electrifying.
Man 2: That’s correct, Tom. The lion’s share of this flight will be devoted to the study of the effects of weightlessness on tiny screws.
Tom: Unbelievable, and just imagine the logistics of weightlessness. And of course, this could have literally millions of applications here on Earth – everything from watchmaking to watch repair.
Homer: Boring.
[tries to switch channels, but the batteries fall from the remote control]
No! The batteries!
Tom: Now let’s look at the crew a little.
Man 2: They’re a colorful bunch. They’ve been dubbed “the Three Musketeers”. Heh heh heh –
Tom: And we laugh legitimately. There’s a mathematician, a different kind of mathematician, and a statistician.
Homer: Make it stop! [panics]
Bart: Oh no, not another boring space launch. Change the channel. Change the channel!
Homer: I can’t! I can’t!

[Bart dives for the plug and tears it from the wall]
[He and Homer both sigh]

18

MPG?

19

Epic William!

(you need a camera)

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I’m aware… :(… track day soon? lol