posted 03-23-2011 07:23 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Blackarrow:
Not that it matters now, but could anyone apply for VIP launch tickets at the VIP site? Was it necessary to know your Congressman or Senator well?

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posted 03-23-2011 08:08 PM               

Some "passes" issued by congressional offices and related agencies were for various alternate viewing sites on Kennedy, and not necessarily for main VIP acceptance.

posted 03-23-2011 08:32 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Ken Havekotte:
Hopefully yours was indeed for main VIP seating, but just make sure, so that there are no misunderstandings on launch day.

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posted 03-24-2011 11:54 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Fezman92:
go to their contact section and look for space exploration or NASA. Then in the box, you request tickets for a shuttle mission.

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posted 03-24-2011 02:18 PM               

NASA has not assigned seating yet. That said, the NASA representative I spoke to gave me this message to confer:

"We have made a note that you would like to view the launch at Banana Creek. However, Banana Creek passes are extremely limited, and the vast majority of Congressional guests view the launch from the NASA Causeway. Your itinerary will show your viewing location (we do not assign viewing locations before then)."

posted 03-24-2011 02:49 PM               

To answer your question, Yes, Banana Creek's ASVC locaton is NASA's primary VIP viewing site for shuttles. Actually, Pad 39B is closer in location than 39A is to the site, however, ASVC offers excellent viewing conditions for both launch pads, but with only 39A in use today.

posted 03-24-2011 07:03 PM               

One of the main astronaut family members' viewing site still remains at a private area east of the ASVC and rooftop during a shuttle takeoff.

When shuttles first started to fly during the 1980s, NASA permitted crewmembers' families atop Kennedy's Launch Control Center (LCC), adjacent to the huge Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and across the street (Saturn Causeway) from the press site viewing area.

posted 03-25-2011 04:58 AM               

I agree with everyone's comments. I had a friend who came from Connecticut for a launch in 1993. I asked him where he wanted to view the launch from. He replied, "I want to see it from the ground up." For that, the Causeway is best. But the bottom line is that there are no bad sites to watch a shuttle launch from. It's an amazing experience and there are only two left.

posted 03-25-2011 05:59 AM               

As Ben pointed out, overall, there isn't a full view of an orbiter with attached fuel tank and booster rockets from either the press, VIP, or OSB locations. From there you can see the top of an external tank and even the tip of a booster rocket. Just about all other areas of an orbiter, tank, and boosters are hidden because of the pad's Rotating Service Structure being in the way to the west side of a shuttle.

If a bird watcher is not so concerned about closer distances, but does what a full view of the vehicle right at liftoff, there are a few other good viewing sites in my opinion. But not all are causeway locations.

The best on-base would be NASA Causeway East over the Banana River and perhaps just about any decent location off-base would be US1 in Titusville along the banks of the Indian River.

Passes for NASA Causeway West over the Indian River, in my opinion, is mostly a poor viewing site that I would not want to be at. There are lots of trees and scrubs along the area.

But the east causeway roadway site, stretching nearly 3 miles long over the Banana River, isn't the only site that can offer full launch vehicle visibility while on the pad.

There are three others; mainly Static Test Viewing Site off Static Test Road and a recently-activated viewing site for space center workers and the general public.

posted 03-25-2011 10:13 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Ben:
If you ask me... Banana Creek is the prettiest and has the clearest view of all the viewing sites, and looks especially nice in the late-afternoon and sunset.

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The top photo is looking east toward Pad-A and Pad-B and shows one of the grandstands to the right and some spectators gathering before a launch.

The bottom photo is looking north toward the Apollo-Saturn V Center and shows the large crowd moments before the launch of STS-100/Endeavour on April 19, 2001.

It is a beautiful area and perhaps the best location to view a Shuttle launch from, but is a difficult location to acquire a pass for.

It is sad that all this will soon be a thing of the past.

posted 03-26-2011 06:58 PM               

I was at STS-71's landing, back in 1995, at the KSC Visitor's Center, which was reported to be THE place to watch the approach to the runway facility. Because of weather conditions (actually it was said that the weather was "TOO perfect", they announced about 45 minutes before the landing that the runway direction had been changed so that the approach was to be from the NW instead of SE as seems to be the norm. This evidently meant that a LOT of people expecting to see a relatively close-up view of the the shuttle's descent saw basically nothing. I was able to briefly see the descending shuttle through binoculars and caught a glimpse of the top of the tail behind the trees after wheels stop, but it was all from very far away.

posted 04-04-2011 02:33 AM               

The glitch evidently has to do with a scheduling conflict involving a Russian resupply craft, the Progress, which was to launch a few days after the Endeavour. That craft cannot dock with the International Space Station while the shuttle is there, and NASA had hoped to persuade the Russians to agree to put the Progress -- a robotic craft -- into a "parking" orbit until the Endeavour had completed its mission. Apparently, agreement could not be reached, and NASA is now looking for a new launch date -- likely, April 29 -- for the Endeavour.

"There's a payload in the Progress that has a short timeframe and so the Russians are very interested in the time from when they initiate that payload, load it onto the Progress and get it onboard ISS," deputy program manager for the space station Kirk Shireman said. "So we're still working the details about that."

The plan, as Shireman explained, was to give Endeavour launch priority during the first part of its window and then, if needed, stand down to let the Progress go.

"But all that is still not finalized yet, we're still in negotiations with John [Shannon, shuttle program director] and the shuttle program and with the Russians," said Shireman.

posted 04-04-2011 07:57 AM               

On Friday, Interfax reported that Russia could delay its Progress launch.

"The postponement of the Progress M-10M launch to April 29 from April 27 is being considered so that the cargo spacecraft does not obstruct Space Shuttle Endeavour at the International Space Station. Its docking with the ISS will take place on May 4, after the shuttle has left," [Alexei Krasnov, the chief of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) manned spaceflight department] said...

If Endeavour is not launched on April 22, the Progress M-10M will be launched as scheduled, on April 27, and will dock with the ISS on April 29, Krasnov said.

"In this case, the next attempt to launch the shuttle will be made on April 29, following the Progress M-10M's docking with the station," he said.

The postponement of the cargo spacecraft's launch to April 29 is inconvenient because in this case the reserve launch date will be May 1, when Russia observes a national holiday, Spring and Labor Day, Krasnov said.