posted 01-08-2012 08:13 AM               

There was a lot of attention on the news channels, with astronauts in the studio's and an almost Apollo 11-like atmosphere. That day,the shuttle program was in the brightest spotlight imaginable, with full live coverage of Pinky's flight to the Solar Max. It ended in a big disappointment.

Then, after all the drama, the capture of Solar Max succeeded without MMUs, 'simply' with ground commands and the RMS, and, without live TV coverage.

It was a really awkward situation for the media, you can still feel it when you watch back the videos.

Final blow to the relation of shuttle and the media was the STS-51C launch. The news channels were very displeased with the fact that the launch time was a secret, as well as all launch communications.

posted 01-08-2012 11:16 AM               

So many more come to mind...McCandless floating up out of the payload bay for the first time, Atlantis undocking from Mir (shot from a Soyuz), the 3-man EVA capturing a communication satellite by hand on STS-49.

Certain TV transmissions stick in my mind, like seeing four crewmembers together for the first time on STS-5. The satellite captures on 51-A were very exciting to see live, especially the second one when Dale Garder set the thing tumbling with him attached! Also, Kathy Thornton's release of Hubble's solar panel and watching it "flap in the breeze" of the shuttle's RCS plumes gave it the look of a giant bird flying in space.

posted 01-08-2012 01:11 PM               

STS-95 Lisa Malone (LC): "Lift off of Discovery with a crew of six astronaut heroes and one American legend"

STS-88 George Diller (LC): "Lift off the space shuttle Endeavour with the first American element of the International Space Station uniting our efforts in space to achieve our common goals."

posted 01-08-2012 03:09 PM               

Up to that point, the telescope was viewed as one of NASA's failures, but the spacewalks and the crew's ability to repair and upgrade Hubble gave the orbiting observatory a public following that has been unmatched by any other unmanned Earth-orbiting satellite.

The resulting sharp imagery from that mission's and the subsequent servicing flights' crews helped solidify Hubble's place in pop culture, but no other telescope's "pretty pictures" has garnished as much fame.

I remember at the time it being noted on the news that people around the country, if not also around the globe, were glued to their televisions watching the multi-hour spacewalks. The interest led to the STS-61 crew appearing on talk shows and even making cameo appearances on a sitcom.

posted 01-09-2012 07:38 AM               

A first defining moment for me at least was seeing that first color television picture downlinked to JSC by Young and Crippen as they gave their first television broadcast. It was brief though as we didn't have the first TDRS satellites up yet. So NASA had to rely on the old tracking station, ship and ARIA aircraft network for on orbit communications.

As for bigger defining moments on orbit, I list the following:

• The first spacewalk on STS-6
  
• The first MMU flight
  
• Joe Allen and Dale Gardner's capture of the satellites (everything seemed to go right on that flight)
  
• STS-7's first freeflight of the SPAS satellite with its imagery of Challenger on orbit (we all had posters of that image)
  
• Hubble's repair
  
• The first close approach to Mir (not the docking mission) with images from Mir showing the shuttle's thruster firings
  
• First Mir docking and handshake in space
  
• The STS-114 tile gap filler removal EVA
  
• Scott Parazynski's EVA on the end of the OBSS to patch the solar array on the ISS
  
• The first RPM flip (technically ISS imagery, but it showed the orbiter's bottom for the first time on television)

posted 01-09-2012 09:29 PM               

• STS-1's take off. I swear, the whole free world was watching TV that day. In my school, teachers were fighting for TVs to show the launch to their classes. I was 11 at the time and even then understood the significance of the flight of a new system that had never even had the SRBs test fired vertically before. I didn't realize at the time that Young was an Apollo Moon walker at the time. But I'll never forget that moment, as nobody knew really what it was going to look like (or even if the thing wouldn't blow itself to kingdom come on the pad. I've read later there was a substantial betting pool in Vegas on that point).
  
  
• STS-51L's 'minute and a bit' ride into history. The explosion is for my generation what Pearl Harbor and JFK's assassination were for earlier ones. I'm ashamed to say I didn't see it on TV when it happened, as it was a teacher planning day and I was at home, doing chores when my Mom and I heard about it on the radio. We sure saw in plenty of times after that.
  
  
• STS-107's re-entry disaster. Sadly, this was overshadowed in the news by the buildup for the invasion of Iraq, and it didn't have nearly the impact on the American public one would have expected. In a post-9/11 world, you can argue that very little shocked Americans by this point.
  
  
• STS-135. I think that speaks for itself. Few people in the public will remember what Atlantis's final mission was, but many will remember that beautiful liftoff, the last such sight we'll ever see. Such melancholy, like the last flight of a Saturn V. America knew then that the space program would not be the dynamic force it was for many years to come, if ever. I know for sure many people were disappointed that the final landing was at night because they wanted better coverage of it.

posted 01-10-2012 12:18 PM               

To my knowledge, there were no cameras broadcasting (or even in operation) aboard Challenger when it was lost.

posted 01-10-2012 08:38 PM               

For the public, it's all about the liftoff. That's why the final mission of Challenger sticks out in people's minds so much, I think.

posted 01-10-2012 09:09 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by p51:
STS-1's take off. I swear, the whole free world was watching TV that day. In my school, teachers were fighting for TVs to show the launch to their classes.

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Over the years the astronauts filmed a number of Mother Nature's temper tantrums like volcanos, hurricanes and tsunamis. Might consider some of them "worthy of note."

As mentioned the image of Challenger with it's CanadaArm extended and angled just right to form a 7. That photo taken from SPAS was the first to show the free flying orbiter with the Earth in the background. Also on that mission we had Sally Ride floating around with her hair all poofed out.

posted 01-11-2012 03:35 AM            

1. STS-1 launch (unforgettable imagery)

2. STS-1 seconds before landing on Rogers Dry Lake at EAFB

3. STS-7 in free flight taken from the SPAS

4. McCandless in free flight aboard the MMU on 41-B, backdropped against the Earth (even though it doesn't feature the Shuttle)

5. 51-L's horrible Y-shaped plume

6. the backflip on any post-Columbia ISS docking mission (although I rate this one last).

posted 01-13-2012 05:55 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by Henry Heatherbank:
the backflip on any post-Columbia ISS docking mission (although I rate this one last).

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