Shuttle Discovery July 4 2006-Pics

reesestewww · reesestewww's Garage

reesestewww · reesestewww's Garage

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

Sweet - thanks for the pictures. I was glued to the NASA channel the whole morning.

85eurocarrera · 85eurocarrera's Garage

Have any audio?

Thanks, cool pics! But really, is it loud from where you were? How far away were you?

Steve Carlton · 07-06-2006, 09:04 PM

ronin · 07-06-2006, 09:23 PM

sweeeet

y'know, us humans in general are a few bricks short of a full load, but man do we know how to have fun!

HardDrive · 07-06-2006, 09:35 PM

Great photos. Not the typical shots.

IROC · IROC's Garage

Here's a cool one:

VaSteve · 07-07-2006, 04:19 AM

I was working at NASA when they launched the last one...last summer I think. We were all in the big conference room/auditorium at HQ watching. The official NASA feed is way different than the news. They were having trouble with the TV and kept switching back and forth. The news idiots would just babble on and on, while the NASA feed was just brief 4 word descriptions of the activity on the screen.

It was exciting to watch with all those people.

zachsbug · 07-07-2006, 07:13 AM

I used to live in Orlando & when NASA was doing the Gemini & Apollo missions we would stand in our back yard & be able to see the vapor trails as they got higher in the sky. Went over to Cocoa Beach a few times for some of the launches. Really something to see.

Noney · 07-07-2006, 07:42 AM

If you ever get the opportunity to go see a launch, DO IT!! It will absolutely make the hairs on your neck and arms stand straight up. When you see it in person, you quickly realize that the shuttle is not so much a graceful spacecraft (although it is that...), but a brute-force machine. It is essentially a huge bomb with a nozzle on the end. And to think that there are human beings inside of it just boggles the mind.

Watching a launch on TV is like watching the Indy 500 on TV versus driving the car in the race -- absolutely no comparison.

Jims5543 · 07-07-2006, 08:10 AM

I am trying to figure out where you are taking these pictures from.

At first I thought Titusville, Then I was thinking downtown cocoa. That lighthouse is really thowing me off. I worked in that area for 12 years amd lived in Cape Canaveral for 2 and I cannot place where you are at.

+1 for seeing one in person its something you'll never forget.

reesestewww · reesestewww's Garage

Ponce Inlet.

84porsche · 84porsche's Garage

IROC,

That is one hell of a picture. Was that from this launch? Can you please tell me where you found that? Thanks.

IROC · IROC's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by 84porsche
IROC,

That is one hell of a picture. Was that from this launch? Can you please tell me where you found that? Thanks.

Yes, this photo was from STS-121. I have some hardware on this flight, so I keep checking the NASA photos to see what I can see... They are here:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/index.html

Mike

Steve Carlton · 07-07-2006, 10:51 AM

Great pics! They start getting really good on page 22:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/shuttle/sts-121/ndxpage22.html

M.D. Holloway · 07-07-2006, 11:22 AM

Saw one launch in the early 90's. Amazing stuff. I do remeber seeing two different contrails - one was the typical white smoke that drifted and dissipated and the other was a darker, faint grey that was pin straight. I always wondered if the darker one was an ion stream or something. The white was most likely steam and CO/CO2? Any ideas?

IROC · IROC's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
Saw one launch in the early 90's. Amazing stuff. I do remeber seeing two different contrails - one was the typical white smoke that drifted and dissipated and the other was a darker, faint grey that was pin straight. I always wondered if the darker one was an ion stream or something. The white was most likely steam and CO/CO2? Any ideas?

I think one stream (the "dirtier" one) is the SRB exhaust and the other is the SSME exhaust. The SSMEs are running on hydrogen/oxygen and the SRBs use that nasty solid fuel...

I saw a launch in 2000 from the VIP viewing stands (closest you can get, IIRC). It was so loud it made my t-shirt visibly vibrate.

Mike

M.D. Holloway · 07-07-2006, 01:29 PM

So how tough is it to become a mission specialist?

IROC · IROC's Garage

Quote:

Originally posted by LubeMaster77
So how tough is it to become a mission specialist?

Pretty tough. I've met quite a few of these guys and they are all *hardcore*. As a minimum I think you need an engineering degree, etc., plus some medical requirements. I thought about submitting an application, but realized that it is truly futile.

All of these guys (and gals) are truly superhuman in their scholastic and professional endeavors. Really amazing over-achievers. I don't know when they sleep. I have a lot of respect for these people.

Mike