|
Author
|
Topic: Photo of the week 282 (March 27, 2010)
|
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
|
posted 03-27-2010 03:37 AM
   
 Almost full moon over Cape Kennedy, photographed in the mid-1960s. Those were the days... Ed Hengeveld |
icarkie
Member Posts: 618
From: BURTON ON TRENT /England
Registered: Nov 2002
|
posted 03-27-2010 05:13 AM
Cracking photo Ed.I wonder if this week's photo will beat lasts week's in reply.  |
East-Frisian
Member Posts: 586
From: Germany
Registered: Apr 2005
|
posted 03-27-2010 05:31 AM
That photo doesn't look real - like a painting. Great shot, but I miss the female aspect. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 03-27-2010 05:36 AM
quote:
Originally posted by East-Frisian:
That photo doesn't look real - like a painting.
At first glance, my mind went immediately to the background art from one of the Star Wars movies. Perhaps its just the low-hanging moon coupled with the reddish sky giving it the Tatooine-feel but its schema for me was definitely more sci-fi than reality... |
NavySpaceFan
Member Posts: 655
From: Norfolk, VA
Registered: May 2007
|
posted 03-27-2010 06:14 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
Perhaps its just the low-hanging moon coupled with the reddish sky giving it the Tatooine-feel but its schema for me was definitely more sci-fi than reality...
Cape Canaveral Spaceport, you will never find a more retched hive of scum and villainy.  |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 03-27-2010 07:49 AM
quote:
Originally posted by NavySpaceFan:
Cape Canaveral Spaceport, you will never find a more retched hive of scum and villainy.
Nice! I was just going to award Robert some Cool Nerd Points for using the noun "Tatooine-feel", but yours is much better. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1587
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
|
posted 03-27-2010 08:39 AM
The gantrys aren't as nice as last week. To quote a Genesis song, "you'll never see the likes of us again."As for the wretched hive quote, it sounds perfect for the anti-NASA crowd. |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-27-2010 10:33 AM
OH MY. This is surreal -- in more ways than one.My father was still working for NASA at that time, even though we had moved away from the Cape. So I remember he would commute, taking these long business trips. I was little, but he took me with him back to NASA on two of these trips. He seemed to feel it was very important that I go. So I remember well THIS VIEW, several times THIS VIEW, except from the ground! It would be late at night after a very long NASA-filled day, and I'd be in the back of a rental car, VERY tired, staring up at those hazy bluish street lights... and as the street lights drifted slowly by, their blue light was punctuated sometimes by the bright white lights of the gantries in the distance... And inside the rental car, while watching those lights slowly passing by, there was always the sound of my father's voice quietly talking with the other NASA officials in the car... and at that late hour, always their discussions were of noble things, truly great things -- like where they dreamed that NASA would go, or how we would get to the moon and the planets, and when. Invariably, the rental car always seemed to take a detour at that late hour, magically ending up at one of the gantries... and all of us would then silently pile out of the car, and stand there in that hazy chill of the night, looking up. No one ever hardly spoke then, but I could tell that there were big dreams in those moments, and that my father and the others standing there in front of the gantry seemed to have the same dream.... This morning, March 27th but ten years ago today, my father died. Oh, how he would have loved this photo, as much as I do. Ed, it is totally surreal that you posted this today. THANK YOU. Anne |
stsmithva
Member Posts: 1933
From: Fairfax, VA, USA
Registered: Feb 2007
|
posted 03-27-2010 10:58 AM
quote:
Originally posted by blue_eyes:
the bright white lights of the gantries in the distance...
That may be the most touching personal recollection of a space photo view I've ever read. Anne, thank you very much for sharing your memories. |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-27-2010 11:32 AM
quote:
Originally posted by stsmithva:
That may be the most touching personal recollection of a space photo view I've ever read. Anne, thank you very much for sharing your memories.
You're very kind, thanks.. though words for me feel clumsy, I'm better with music. Anyway, thank you. I feel so fortunate to have this (Robert's) cS "family" to come to. I mean, to be able to share something so potent for me and know that so many of you will really "get it"--this means a whole lot. Thanks. And big thanks again to Ed, Space-History-Photo-Picker Extraordinaire. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
|
posted 03-27-2010 05:47 PM
Anne, if you were to write a space book I would buy it. |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-27-2010 06:44 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Lou Chinal:
Anne, if you were to write a space book I would buy it.
See? See what I mean? Everyone here is just so great. Lou, just buy my music CD "Columbia: We Dare to Dream" -- how 'bout that?!!  It comes with a small booklet of my poetry (that goes with the music)... does space poetry count? Thanks... |
dtemple
Member Posts: 729
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
|
posted 03-27-2010 09:46 PM
quote:
Originally posted by blue_eyes:
Invariably, the rental car always seemed to take a detour at that late hour, magically ending up at one of the gantries... and all of us would then silently pile out of the car, and stand there in that hazy chill of the night, looking up. No one ever hardly spoke then, but I could tell that there were big dreams in those moments, and that my father and the others standing there in front of the gantry seemed to have the same dream....
That's a great story! |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
|
posted 03-28-2010 01:12 AM
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.... |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
|
posted 03-28-2010 02:52 AM
Anne, I envy you for your childhood. Thanks for sharing these wonderful memories...Space-History-Photo-Picker Extraordinaire |
astro-nut
Member Posts: 946
From: Washington, IL
Registered: Jan 2006
|
posted 03-28-2010 08:20 AM
Beautiful photo! Does anyone know which launch pad/gantry's these are? Thank you. |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-28-2010 11:54 AM
quote:
Originally posted by GACspaceguy:
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings...
Thank you GACspaceguy... this means a lot.My father, Hiden Cox, would have been deeply touched as well. Anne |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-28-2010 12:05 PM
quote:
Originally posted by heng44:
Anne, I envy you for your childhood. Thanks for sharing these wonderful memories...
Ed, don't feel too envious about my wonderful childhood NASA memories... I left out the parts in the story about getting carsick in the back seat of the rental car.  |
dtemple
Member Posts: 729
From: Longview, Texas, USA
Registered: Apr 2000
|
posted 03-28-2010 03:35 PM
quote:
Originally posted by astro-nut:
Beautiful photo! Does anyone know which launch pad/gantry's these are? Thank you.
LC 37 is just slightly left of center; its mobile service tower looked like no other. The mobile service structure for LC 34 is to the left. To the right of LC 37 I believe are a couple of Titan launch pads - perhaps LC 19 is one of them (the one with the most lighting on it at right). There appear to be two more towers in the background but I cannot identify them with certainty. Perhaps the one that almost appears to be a part of the mobile service structure for LC 37 (immediate left of it) is pad 37A. Two pads were built for it but only 37B was used. |
alanh_7
Member Posts: 1252
From: Ajax, Ontario, Canada
Registered: Apr 2008
|
posted 03-28-2010 05:36 PM
What a great photo. Almost like a painting. Beautiful. |
Kimmy
unregistered
|
posted 03-28-2010 06:30 PM
Anne, I have recently joined collectSPACE thanks to Robert. I did not plan on adding too many posts. I just love to read what all the members have to share.Your story is the greatest I have ever read in this forum. It actually brought tears to my eyes. You had such a special relationship with your father and to share with us this truly great memory you have with your Dad which also concerns our hobby is something that the majority of us would never ever experience. It felt like I was the one laying in the back seat looking up to the lights as they passed by. You have been blessed. My father also left me 10 years ago to go up to the heavens like your father did. May you pass down your memories to all the generations that follow you. Sometimes it takes a person such as yourself to make us remember what is truly important in life. Thank you Ed for your photo and therefore allowing Anne to share her story. Kimmy |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
|
posted 03-28-2010 07:30 PM
Looks like Complex 16 is in the foreground with Titan pads 19 and 20 next in line. The bigger service structures are from the older Saturn 1/1B launch sites of 34 and 37. The last two, barely visible, were the advanced Titan sites of 40 and 41. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-28-2010 11:12 PM
I have a nice vintage NASA glossy of this image...and it's one of my all-time favorites. I would be curious to get a better idea of the date...as my copy of the image doesn't have a serial number or stamped information on the back...though it's probably 1965-1966.Below are the pads as I have ID'd them. Blockhouse numbers are shown in white. And looking at a map, there does appear to a grouping of lights fainting visible on the left side of the photo that corresponds to where one of the Pad 39 locations is (probably Pad 39A). Perhaps one of the LUT towers was in place and lit up at the time the photo was taken.  |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-29-2010 01:31 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Kimmy:
Anne, I have recently joined collectSPACE thanks to Robert. I did not plan on adding too many posts. I just love to read what all the members have to share.Your story is the greatest I have ever read in this forum. It actually brought tears to my eyes.
Kimmy, that is one of the nicest things that anyone has ever said to me! Thank you. You had to have been really brave to post your words too, something obviously so heartfelt--and that says a lot about the kind of person that YOU are. I'm glad that you found collectSPACE and hope that you post frequently. Welcome to Robert's great cS family! Fortunately for you and me, there are literally hundreds of personal and powerful stories here every week, all by the AMAZING members. It still blows me away how each member brings his/her own "gifts" of information and inspiration to the group... like here, Ed posts this awesome photo and within HOURS there is a full analysis going on, with the gantries precisely labeled and the date of the photo being scrutinized and more historical facts being introduced... and always with such wonderful humor from all of the members! I just love it. So Kimmy, you've come to the right place. And I'm sure Ed has more mind-blowing photos up his sleeve. And I can't wait to see them! Anne |
tegwilym
Member Posts: 2331
From: Sturgeon Bay, WI
Registered: Jan 2000
|
posted 03-29-2010 03:24 PM
Wow, that's a great shot. I guess everyone has said all the profound things they can about that, including the 'Wretched hive' comment (you beat me to it!).So cool with all those early pads lit up and still intact and active....and the moon -the goal- hanging low in the sky. Neat! They don't make them like they used to. The photo deserves a... . Tom |
Matt T
Member Posts: 1368
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001
|
posted 03-31-2010 03:45 PM
Thanks for your post Anne, evocative doesn't begin to do it justice. Had to read it twice just for pleasure of the reading.Your father's job is the only one i have ever coveted; he and all the hundreds of thousands of others who worked on Apollo did an incredible thing with their lives. |
blue_eyes
Member Posts: 165
From: North Carolina, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 03-31-2010 07:34 PM
Matt, thanks. It's funny though, your mention of Apollo -- I still associate my father more strongly with Project Mercury. Maybe I think that way because that's when we were still living there, in a motel... and maybe, because he had quite a bit of contact with Shepard, Grissom, and Glenn... and maybe, because of the day when I got to sit with Alan Shepard, on his lap all afternoon! That certainly colored my whole vision as a child! Ahhhh, but that's another story... Anyway, you said it perfectly--ALL of them did do these incredible things with their lives. And every day they went to work, they had to blaze a new trail... forge a totally new path. Can you imagine doing that, every day? I think this photo somehow reflects that... it's hazy, like everything's not all spelled out... and the gantries are like these *seeds* of INCREDIBLE things to come. Man, it gives me duck bumps when I think about it! |
space1
Member Posts: 853
From: Danville, Ohio
Registered: Dec 2002
|
posted 04-01-2010 04:52 AM
This image reminds me of scenes from the live TV coverage of launches. What I recall from those TV images is the twinkling effect of the distant lights. Imagine this scene with the lights twinkling. |
dss65
Member Posts: 1156
From: Sandpoint, ID, USA
Registered: Mar 2003
|
posted 04-01-2010 09:25 PM
I think it's pretty interesting that this mesmerizing photo is getting close to as much interest as that of the beautiful woman that drew so many comments before it.------------------
Don |
advertisement