Posts: 93 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Sep 2010
posted 03-04-2011 06:53 PM
Thank you to the crew of STS-133 and safe travels back home! I finally got to see a shuttle launch and was thrilled beyond belief!! The two second go or no go was a nail biter, you could have heard a pin drop out at the causeway... but it made for a huge uproar and emotional excitement when the scream for GO! went across the speakers!
I'm very sad that I waited so long to go see one!
Now that I know what I've missed and will never again see after this year, I think that I'm going to try and go to the STS-135 launch.
I'd love to watch Endeavour launch on its STS-134 final so I could catch the trio, but its too far and too much money to turn around a third time after making two STS-133 trips.
Thanks again to Tim Gagnon for the last large Apollo patch I bought from him and the other few I found on this trip that he made but I didn't get directly from him. Always beautiful patch work I keep saying it!!
Special thanks must be said to Ken Havekotte for his hospitality and taking the time to meet up twice with my mother and I. His collection is jaw dropping amazing and its inspired me to jump start my space collection with a few little do-dads I got from him off the shuttle! A few I'd like to identify further so I can find pictures of them in use and display them nicely.
I took about 150 pictures through the STS-133 launch sequence from pre-ignition to SRB seperation, from the NASA/Canaveral causeway. I'm very happy with how they came out! If I do indeed make the final shuttle launch on STS-135 I have a few ideas to take even higher quality pictures for a lifetime of memories. Without ever seeing a shuttle launch I was so excited but it goes so quick to decide how or where to focus my attention and camera zoom.
Fezman92 Member
Posts: 1031 From: New Jersey, USA Registered: Mar 2010
posted 03-04-2011 07:17 PM
Nice pics! What kind of zoom do you have? I'm going for 134 and have a 300mm zoom
FullThrottle Member
Posts: 93 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Sep 2010
posted 03-04-2011 08:06 PM
I used a 300mm with a Sony camera, no tripod!!
LOL, funny but true, I used a portapotty as stabilization something to lean on while I snapped away at the action!
I cut and cropped the pictures posted... even at full zoom it still looks relatively small in unedited form. My first picture is at 100% just cut at the edges to center my online picture.
300mm works great for nice pictures to post online! I'm going to try and print out cut and non-cut versions to check quality but I am happy with my results for a novice camera user with poor mans equipment!
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2475 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 03-05-2011 06:01 AM
GREAT photos! I am going to miss posts like these. I hope the weather is this clear for the next two launches.
dabolton Member
Posts: 419 From: Seneca, IL, US Registered: Jan 2009
posted 03-05-2011 02:30 PM
Four views of Discovery launch stitched into single video.
Fezman92 Member
Posts: 1031 From: New Jersey, USA Registered: Mar 2010
posted 03-06-2011 09:23 PM
Are there going to be available unedited videos of the spacewalks and stuff? I know they have edited stuff, but I can't find unedited stuff.
BA002 Member
Posts: 175 From: Utrecht,NL Registered: Feb 2007
posted 03-07-2011 02:02 PM
Just watched Discovery and ISS fly overhead. Well, overhead... I live in Holland and they got about as close as northern Spain! Still, since they were scheduled to appear just beside Jupiter I had a good aiming point for my binoculars, and when the duo rose a bit higher above the horizon I could see them with my own eyes.
One thing that struck me was how little their brightness seemed to differ. In fact, I think Discovery was ahead of ISS but the difference in brightness was so little I'm not even entirely sure. Could some one confirm the space shuttle flies ahead of ISS after undocking?
Although I was very excited to have managed to see Discovery on a "very marginal" pass it also saddens me that this was probably my last farewell to her (it?).
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-07-2011 05:19 PM
The ascent of space shuttle Discovery from NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Feb. 24 is shown from a number of unique angles recorded by multiple engineering cameras situated at and around Launch Pad 39A.
cspg Member
Posts: 6210 From: Geneva, Switzerland Registered: May 2006
Question: Based solely on the photo, how do you differentiate between a Soyuz and a Progress (there are three of them)?
OV-105 Member
Posts: 816 From: Ridgecrest, CA Registered: Sep 2000
posted 03-09-2011 12:50 PM
Welcome home Discovery. Pride of the fleet, You are being parked too soon.
dabolton Member
Posts: 419 From: Seneca, IL, US Registered: Jan 2009
posted 03-09-2011 07:33 PM
If she's going to Udvar, they should just landed her there and done the safeing there.
GACspaceguy Member
Posts: 2475 From: Guyton, GA Registered: Jan 2006
posted 03-09-2011 07:38 PM
quote:Originally posted by dabolton: If she's going to Udvar, they should just landed her there and done the safeing there.
Don't you wish it was that easy!
jasonelam Member
Posts: 691 From: Monticello, KY USA Registered: Mar 2007
posted 03-09-2011 07:39 PM
quote:Originally posted by cspg: Question: Based solely on the photo, how do you differentiate between a Soyuz and a Progress (there are three of them)?
One way is to look at the center of the vehicle. The Soyuz is more bell shaped with more clarity between the DM and OM, while the Progress has a cone-type center and the "DM" and OM components look almost as one.
Tom Member
Posts: 1597 From: New York Registered: Nov 2000
posted 03-09-2011 09:02 PM
Even though we weren't able to get the "flyabout" photo from Soyuz, I'm sure there's some talented people here that could "photoshop" Discovery into this great ISS photo.
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 03-09-2011 11:09 PM
Okay Robert, I have to ask if that was you wearing a white shirt and holding a very large telephoto lensed camera being seen on the NASA TV feed after Discovery's wheels stop? It kind of looked like you anyway.
moorouge Member
Posts: 2454 From: U.K. Registered: Jul 2009
posted 03-10-2011 01:45 AM
quote:Originally posted by dabolton: If she's going to Udvar, they should just landed her there and done the safeing there.
Was I the only one who heard the PAO say during the recovery that Discovery was going to be retired to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC?
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-10-2011 04:44 AM
quote:Originally posted by Jay Chladek: ...was [that] you wearing a white shirt and holding a very large telephoto lensed camera being seen on the NASA TV feed after Discovery's wheels stop?
No, not me. I was on the midpoint tower and by wheels stop was back at my seat, updating this site (and wearing a blue STS-133 polo).
Delta7 Member
Posts: 1505 From: Bluffton IN USA Registered: Oct 2007
posted 03-10-2011 08:07 AM
I was kind of hoping some members of Discovery's original crew would be there as VIP guests. Not even Mike Coats?
Hart Sastrowardoyo Member
Posts: 3445 From: Toms River, NJ Registered: Aug 2000
posted 03-10-2011 12:05 PM
What three engines were used on Discovery and what are their histories (e.g., number of times used, what flights)?
dogcrew5369 Member
Posts: 750 From: Statesville, NC Registered: Mar 2009
posted 03-10-2011 04:26 PM
quote:Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo: What three engines were used on Discovery and what are their histories (e.g., number of times used, what flights)?
I do know all three engines were last flown on Atlantis STS-129 although in different positions.
FullThrottle Member
Posts: 93 From: Seattle, WA, USA Registered: Sep 2010
posted 03-10-2011 06:41 PM
Space Shuttle engine, ET tank and SRB designation numbers used on STS-133, according to NASA's press kit:
Somewhere in my paperwork I hoarded from the launch, it had all the previous stats on the tanks and engines... I dug through my pile and can't find any specifics on previous flights although I remember being surprised at how many times the main engines had been refurbished/reused.
Hart Sastrowardoyo Member
Posts: 3445 From: Toms River, NJ Registered: Aug 2000
posted 03-10-2011 09:19 PM
According to Wikipedia, which has the flights 'til 2006:
2044: STS-89, STS-88, STS-99, STS-106, STS-98, STS-105, STS-111 (edit: 2044 also flew on STS-125.)
2048: STS-95, STS-92, STS-110, STS-112 (and 119, on edit.)
2058: Not listed. (But flew at least 119.)
So, if this is correct, Discovery's last set of engines flew on the penultimate Shuttle-Mir flight as well as the first ISS mission; Glenn's shuttle flight; and the seventh flights of both Chang-Diaz and Ross as well as the last Hubble flight. Not too shabby.
Skylon Member
Posts: 274 From: Registered: Sep 2010
posted 03-10-2011 10:30 PM
quote:Originally posted by Delta7: I was kind of hoping some members of Discovery's original crew would be there as VIP guests. Not even Mike Coats?
Yeah. It'd have been a good photo op to have Hank Hartsfield shaking Steve Lindsey's hand in front of Discovery.
Mike Coats I suppose figured his place was at JSC, where the JSC Director usually is at landing, probably rightly so. He at least saw it off, as he was in the LCC on launch day.
But, I guess its hard to commit to such things. Bad weather, and a diversion to Edwards could render inviting a bunch of VIPs out to KSC moot. I do hope John Young and Bob Crippen are on hand for the last landing.
ivorwilliams Member
Posts: 69 From: Welwyn Garden City, UK Registered: Jan 2005
posted 03-11-2011 04:23 AM
I watched Discovery land with a heavy heart and no doubt the final landings of Endeavour and Atlantis will hurt even more.
I was born on April 4th 1961, so really, I'm almost the same age as the NASA's manned space program. I wonder if 2011, my 50th year will see it finished as a NASA only entity.
Somehow, US astronauts hitching a ride on a Russian Soyuz just doesn't have the same romance attached to it.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42988 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 03-11-2011 07:43 AM
quote:Originally posted by Hart Sastrowardoyo: What three engines were used on Discovery and what are their histories (e.g., number of times used, what flights)?
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne prepare a flight history for their engines before each launch. Here is the STS-133 SSME History:
posted 03-04-2011 06:53 PM
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