|
Author
|
Topic: Sharing memories of space shuttle Endeavour
|
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
|
posted 04-28-2011 02:33 AM
   
Continuing the trend I started with the previous Sharing memories of space shuttle Discovery thread I did for STS-133, I thought I would start one for Endeavour as well. In terms of the shuttles, I regret that Endeavour is the only one I haven't seen up close and I will never see it launch or likely even visit my home state on the back of a 747. Only time I've seen it with my eyes in person was it flying overhead as a bright dot when near or docked with the ISS. Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis I have seen (even Enterprise at Udvar Hazy) but not Endeavour. I will likely get a chance to see it after it retires, but not before then. I would say the only unique memory I have of the shuttle's history was as a Sophomore in High School when we got the literature in the mail for the name the next shuttle contest. The rules were strict and at the time while myself and a couple other classmates discussed entering, we never did as other things took our attention at the time. But if I had entered, the name I was thinking of for OV-105 was "Beagle" after the HMS Beagle which is probably most well known as being the ship that Charles Darwin was on for some of his discoveries. I was also thinking Beagle might fit as well given that shuttles are mostly black and white, like a certain beagle from a certain popular comic strip. Of course, part of the reason I didn't go through with the submission was I felt it seemed probably too obvious. But, just think how different history could have been if Beagle had been chosen.  |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
|
posted 04-28-2011 05:28 AM
In the late 1980's I served as a volunteer state coordinator for the Young Astronaut Program. One of the projects we got involved with was the Name the Shuttle contest NASA held for school children. The students had to write an essay to accompany the name and explain why they chose it.While they didn't win, one of our YA Chapters in New Haven submitted "Endeavour". Endeavour is the only orbiter that I saw every launch as we were living in Titusville when she flew for the first time. Endeavour was also the ship that carried the STS-126 crew - our first shuttle patch. I was able to share that launch from Banana Creek with my entire Florida family including my (then) 15 month old grandson. Endeavour STS-127 was also the launch where Jorge and I (and our families) met for the first time. Astronauts we worked with arranged for a special tour and invited us to see the launch up close. Which didn't happen due to the weather. But when she did fly, we all watched if from US#1 in Titusville. |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
|
posted 04-28-2011 07:35 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Jay Chladek:
But, just think how different history could have been if Beagle had been chosen.
It would have been among the top quotes of the shuttle program: Brandenstein, following STS-49's wheels stop: "Houston, the Beagle has landed."
|
garymilgrom
Member Posts: 1966
From: Atlanta, GA
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 04-28-2011 08:05 AM
My fondest memory of Endeavour is the time her name was mispelled (Endevor) on a flag at the launch pad. |
dogcrew5369
Member Posts: 750
From: Statesville, NC
Registered: Mar 2009
|
posted 04-28-2011 02:28 PM
Might not seem like much to a lot of regular launch viewers, but might fondest memory of Endeavour came in 1994. The only launch I saw was STS-59 from near Orlando. Have some cool launch photos with the sunrise making the plume glow. Pretty good show from that distance. Always remembered that day since as my launch. Probably seems trivial to a lot of diehard watchers, but it will stick with me till I die. |
Neil Aldrin
Member Posts: 84
From:
Registered: Feb 2010
|
posted 04-28-2011 05:52 PM
I have never been physically closer to an orbiter than I have been to Endeavour.Last May, in OPF 2, I was a few feet from her belly tiles and inches from her main landing gear. An awsome memory that I will never forget! |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 04-28-2011 06:22 PM
A couple of weeks before the launch of STS-126, I got to see Endeavour on the launchpad during a tour of KSC guided by Jim Lovell and David Scott. I enjoyed seeing a space shuttle for the first time, although technically (as you can see) I only saw the SRBs and external fuel tank. (Maybe the main engines were down there too.)  |
SpaceAngel
Member Posts: 307
From: Maryland
Registered: May 2010
|
posted 05-05-2011 07:10 PM
I never forget how I saw "Endeavour" sitting on the pad during my visit in Florida in July 2007... |
joe bruce
Member Posts: 129
From: Spokane, WA U.S.A.
Registered: Nov 2004
|
posted 05-14-2011 05:58 PM
In February 1990, I was in Rockwell's Plant 42 Palmdale, CA with Endeavour. The crew module had just arrived the day before. My father-in-law and I took photos of Endeavour. In this photo silver insulation is being tied onto the crew module. It was tied on with strings attached to the crew module. Once that is completed the crew module was lifted and placed inside the outer shell. Then an outer shell with the TPS is placed over the top of the module. You can see the upper outer shell with the TPS just to the right and behind the crew module.  This photo is from the main hatch side of the crew module.  
In this photo I am standing under Endeavour looking forward.  The guy with the huge video camera is a much younger me. A 21 years ago younger me. I got the chance to see Endeavour launch last year on STS-130 a night launch. |
Apollo-Soyuz
Member Posts: 1205
From: Shady Side, Md
Registered: Sep 2004
|
posted 05-15-2011 06:02 AM
My first and only shuttle launch was STS-67 with the Astro-2 payload. The feelings I got after Endeavor launched with the shockwave from the srb's hitting my chest will be something I will never forget. ------------------
John Macco
Space Unit #1457 |
astro-nut
Member Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006
|
posted 05-15-2011 01:40 PM
My favorite memory would be seeing Endeavour twice on the launch pad. I saw it on the launch pad for STS-126 and STS-400/STS-127 missions. Thank you. |
embangloy
Member Posts: 75
From: Nashville, TN, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
|
posted 05-16-2011 12:06 AM
On March 18, 1995, my brother and I decided to make an unexpected PX run to Edwards AFB (we are originally from Bakersfield). Since we were there, I decided to go to the gift shop and purchase the last few mission patches that I did not have at the time and make current. It was the nice ladies in the shop that informed me that the space shuttle was on approach and would be landing. After getting more information, my brother and I hopped into my truck and got as close to Runway 22 (as close as my MCB Camp Pendleton base sticker would get me) as we could. On top of an elevated mound, we witnessed Endeavour land and the completion of STS-67. On a side note, my brother and I found out later that we watched Discovery land on that same date six years earlier (STS-29). |
OV-105
Member Posts: 816
From: Ridgecrest, CA
Registered: Sep 2000
|
posted 05-16-2011 08:29 AM
I got to see Endeavour in the summer of 1990 when she was being built. Endeavour was almost done on the outside at the time so there was just a little TPS work going on on the outside. I was at Edwards for her first landing in 92. I was kind of there for the STS-67 landing also. I had got sent to a fire at the Borax plant in Born about the time they had waved off KSC and were going to Edwards. It was different to hear on the radio that NASA wanted to know if the fire would be a problem for the landing. You can see the plant in the background of the shuttle on the lakebed landings. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
|
posted 05-18-2011 08:28 PM
Ah Endeavour, my favorite shuttle. We share a history.She launched the year I was born. Her second launch was 8 days after I was born. My first visit to KSC when I was 5, she was being rolled out to the pad for STS-89. When I did the Level 9 tour at Houston, I saw them train for STS-118. It was raining that day and the bus was going to pick up Drew and Morgan, but we couldn't because they were in the 30 day quarantine before launch. I did get a photo of them walking though. To cap it all off I got to see her final launch and got some great photos and memories. I will look forward to the day that I will be able to get to see her in CA. I plan to donate to the Science Center. |
crowe-t
New Member Posts:
From:
Registered:
|
posted 05-20-2011 02:16 AM
A couple of weeks before STS-123 launched my wife and I had a tour of KSC and got to see Endeavour's ET and SRB's on the pad.
 |
jr-transport
Member Posts: 31
From: Grunthal, MB, Canada
Registered: Apr 2010
|
posted 05-21-2011 09:24 AM
The only Shuttle I ever saw launched - STS-130. Also while there, I saw STS-131 being stacked, a truly memorable experience, one I'll never forget!Thanks Endeavour!  |
SpaceAngel
Member Posts: 307
From: Maryland
Registered: May 2010
|
posted 05-22-2011 07:08 PM
Another memory of "Endeavour" was watching the 2003 sci-fi movie "The Core" movie when the orbiter made an unexpected landing in the river basin in Los Angeles. Does anyone remember that scene from the movie? |
randy
Member Posts: 2176
From: West Jordan, Utah USA
Registered: Dec 1999
|
posted 05-22-2011 08:50 PM
My Endeavour memory is when I was at the Astronaut Hall of Fame ceremony in Nov. 2001. When we were on the tour bus approaching the VAB and Apollo/Saturn V Center, we drove past the pad and Endeavour was on the pad. Unfortunately, it didn't launch until about two weeks later. I'll always remember that. |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
|
posted 05-24-2011 02:51 AM
quote:
Originally posted by SpaceAngel:
Another memory of "Endeavour" was watching the 2003 sci-fi movie "The Core" movie when the orbiter made an unexpected landing in the river basin in Los Angeles. Does anyone remember that scene from the movie?
I kind of want to forget that one since the scene was so BAD! If a shuttle had been that far off course, they could have tried to put it down at LAX or one of the other airports (which any astronaut familiar with the LA skyline likely would have seen). And the absurdity of retracting the main gear to bring the shuttle to a stop was totally silly since a shuttle's landing gear can only deploy, not retract (it gets cranked up manually on the ground). But, at least it wasn't as bad as the landing in the film "Max Q" and it was nice that Endeavour got to take a beating for once instead of Atlantis (which tends to be the whipping boy shuttle in films for the number of things it has been through). |
E2M Lem Man
Member Posts: 846
From: Los Angeles CA. USA
Registered: Jan 2005
|
posted 05-24-2011 01:53 PM
I for one am happy to see Endeavour come back to California where she was built. I had the chance to go thru the cockpit when it was built here in Downey in 1988, before it was shipped to Palmdale for final assembly. Then I was in the seventh row center at Palmdale when she was rolled out. I saw her on the pad twice - but missed both of those launches. |
Rob Joyner
Member Posts: 1308
From: GA, USA
Registered: Jan 2004
|
posted 06-02-2011 11:32 AM
I guess my fondest memory of Endeavour would actually have to span her overall career. The very first shuttle launch I saw in person was Endeavour's maiden launch on May 7, 1992. 19 years and 9 days later I was there on the same causeway to see her last.
As I waited at the causeway that Monday morning I thought about being there for STS-49 all those years ago. I had no idea what it would be like. It was a twilight launch, six miles away. I had no idea how bright it would be, how loud it would be. "T minus one minute..." I remember wiping the sweat from my hands. I was actually about to see people be launched into space. Real people, right in front of me.
"Lift off!" The expanding steam and smoke quickly gave way to the extremely bright fire below her, so intense it reminded me of a welder's torch. I sincerely still remember the genuine excitement I felt watching Endeavour silently rise into the sky that evening, how the approaching sound grew louder and louder the higher she flew. It amazed me that it took half a minute before the roar of the launch hit the causeway at full force. By then Endeavour was high in the sky. And then in less than a couple of minutes she was gone. Just a small little dot. That fast. Still amazed at what I had just seen, I thought about how the astronauts on board were already floating in space before I even got back on the KSC bus. I knew then that this was something I would have to experience again and again.
Over the years I had the great honor of telling astronauts Dan Brandenstein, Rick Hieb and Bruce Melnick that I was there for that first launch of Endeavour. It gives you a good feeling to make astronauts smile. Jim Wetherbee was Endeavour's commander on his 6th and final mission. Having told him I was there for that launch too, he joked about seeing and waving at me. Astronauts are good people.
Having seen more launches since that May evening in 1992, I can honestly say they have all been exciting and memorable. Morning, afternoon, dusk and night launches, never once were any thought of as just another shuttle launch. There are people in that thing, people being launched into space. "Real people, right in front of me." But as it is said about many things - you never forget your first. Adding that I was also there to see Endeavour's final launch makes the whole experience a very special one. To be there and witness in person the beginning and end of a particular part of human spaceflight is something I'll have with me forever.Now Endeavour is safely home, her career has come full circle. There would have never been a space shuttle Endeavour if not for the Challenger accident. From a terrible tragedy a bright beacon emerged. I thought about that all those years ago at Endeavour's first launch. I thought about it again that Monday morning at her last. And I do believe she's done her sister very proud. |
Spaceguy5
Member Posts: 427
From: Pampa, TX, US
Registered: May 2011
|
posted 06-02-2011 03:41 PM
STS-111 was the first shuttle mission I ever followed. I was pretty young, but I stayed glued to NASA TV and tried to learn as much as I could about the mission. Later after Expedition 5 had returned, I sent in a letter to request an autograph from Peggy Whitson. It arrived quite a while later--by then, I had forgotten I sent it. I still have it in my collection, although sadly it has gained a few small bends. I regret never being able to see Endeavour in person. I really wish it would have gone to Houston. |
James Brown
Member Posts: 1287
From: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Registered: Jun 2000
|
posted 06-02-2011 06:32 PM
Getting to spend an hour or 3 on the launch pad with Endeavour was one I won't soon forget.  |
rasorenson
Member Posts: 96
From: Santa Clara, CA, USA
Registered: Nov 2009
|
posted 06-02-2011 09:02 PM
If you will indulge me.I want to thank Robert for posting the close up photos of the walk around Endeavour after landing. It is so much like an old friend coming home. Discolored, cracked tiles and all. How wonderful the shuttle years have been. We learned to live in space, not just go and return! We went to the very edge of knowledge and caught sight of the breadth of the universe. Imagine! Thanks to the breakthrough of digital imagery- we were along with larger than life detail. We shared anticipation, exhilaration, wonder, frustration, challenge, achievement, pride, awe, shock and grief. We shared with those who lived it. We just as surely went along. The early flights seemed baby steps of testing and trying new technologies. We launched telescopes. We repaired satellites, handily plucking them from their orbits. Astronauts flew freely in space. The years and array of Shuttle activity reached us in personal, tangible ways. Human ways. Some of us haven’t known a time when there was no Shuttle. I was parked on the causeway the day Columbia rose in the Florida sky for the first time. Only those who have seen a launch know the feeling of the shock wave hitting one’s chest. I saw Discovery land in the Mojave after delivering Hubble to orbit. Atlantis was on the pad when I took yet another tour of KSC. And I was privileged to casually walk around the hangar floor while Endeavour was being built in Palmdale, California. We were told not to touch, so I went close enough to sniff the carbon-carbon edge of her port wing. Looking at crew patch designs brings me memories of milestones in my own life. Then we went to ISS and learned day-to-day work and play in space. We know the nooks and crannies of the orbiter crew compartment and ISS modules. We watched the expanse of solar panels unfold on their delicate stems. We tried to hold small screws and bolts in state of the art construction gloves, still dropping a few. For many, these things became too mundane to watch. For us it was a life we’d always wanted to live. Last night the scene of Endeavour resting on the runway after wheels stop, huffing and puffing fuel cell exhaust made me think of a thorough bred after finishing a race of break neck speed- heaving to catch its breath in the winner’s circle. Endeavour had made it home again. Back to us- this time to stay.
|
advertisement