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Author
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Topic: Kennedy Space Center press site countdown clock
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-01-2014 06:50 PM
   
collectSPACE NASA's iconic countdown clock ticks down days to replacementThe countdown is now underway for the removal and replacement of the historic launch countdown clock at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The large digital clock, which has stood for more than four decades outside the center's press site, ticking down the hours, minutes and seconds remaining to the next launch, is being replaced with a more capable, modern display like the screens used in ballparks or in New York City's Times Square. "We are looking at [installing] a bigger screen that will look more modern," said Lisa Malone, director of public affairs at Kennedy Space Center. "It will be more flexible, so we'll be able to show the countdown, as well as have additional room to show NASA TV programming, too."  |
Ken Havekotte
Member Posts: 2915
From: Merritt Island, Florida, Brevard
Registered: Mar 2001
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posted 10-01-2014 06:59 PM
Hate to see the countdown clock go! It's like an old buddy of mine as there were so many shuttle launches, including some of the later Apollos, that I would "hang out with" while covering liftoffs only a few feet away from the large digital clock and nearby flag pole. Just hate to see her go...
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GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 10-01-2014 07:40 PM
I trust it will be moved to a place where it can be displayed. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-01-2014 07:55 PM
From the article: ...NASA's plan as of now is to transfer it to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. There, it will eventually be placed on public display. |
Greggy_D
Member Posts: 977
From: Michigan
Registered: Jul 2006
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posted 10-01-2014 08:01 PM
Modern isn't always the best. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-01-2014 08:10 PM
As also noted in the article: The decision now to replace the countdown clock was not driven by aesthetics or capability alone..."The clock is made of parts that are no longer being made and so it is harder and harder to keep it running," Malone told collectSPACE. |
mode1charlie
Member Posts: 1169
From: Honolulu, HI
Registered: Sep 2010
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posted 10-01-2014 10:23 PM
I'm sure the old one will find a suitable place of honor. Resistance to the new, however, is something I don't quite understand... |
GACspaceguy
Member Posts: 2476
From: Guyton, GA
Registered: Jan 2006
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posted 10-02-2014 04:33 AM
On display as part of a photo op would be great. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 10-02-2014 10:16 AM
Perhaps they should also take down that old flagpole as it is so 20th Century; and besides, "it might offend someone." 
13 July 1995
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Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-02-2014 11:14 AM
The difference is that the flag pole still works; the countdown clock does not (or is near failing, with replacement parts no longer available). |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1310
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
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posted 10-02-2014 11:15 AM
Another end of an era. I wonder if they replaced/will replace the old press site bleachers located not so far from the clock? For my first shuttle launch, STS-9, I sat there and soaked in the view and wondered about the many reporters who must have seen launches dating back to Apollo.I think they should place the clock in a nice setting, with perhaps flags honoring the Apollo, Skylab, ASTP and Shuttle programs in the background. Maybe they can retrofit it with LED lights to display the countdown to the next unmanned (and later manned) rocket launch? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 10-02-2014 11:21 AM
The press site bleachers were removed in 2005 as a direct result of the 2004 hurricane season, when portions of the grandstand awning broke off and damaged the roof of the NASA News Center.Since then, a much smaller, mobile set of bleachers were added to the site. |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 10-02-2014 11:53 AM
quote:
Originally posted by mode1charlie:
Resistance to the new, however, is something I don't quite understand...
I don't see it as resistance to a new clock more so than being sad at the removal of an icon of launches. So many other icons of the program have been turned into scrap, I'm glad to hear this one won't be. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 10-02-2014 02:29 PM
On close inspection, the countdown clock is pretty dated and "Ann Twacky". While it may be an iconic symbol of manned spaceflight the impracticalities of maintaining it are not difficult to see. |
pupnik
Member Posts: 114
From: Maryland
Registered: Jan 2014
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posted 10-02-2014 03:58 PM
It'd be nice if both of them could be in place and counting for EFT-1, a sort of handover from one generation to the next. |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 10-02-2014 05:48 PM
Man, I love that idea... Hopefully they could wire it up to the real countdown clock so it could count down from the visitor center! |
sev8n
Member Posts: 234
From: Dallas TX USA
Registered: Jul 2012
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posted 10-06-2014 12:10 PM
We can put a man on the moon but we can't fix a clock...  |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 10-06-2014 01:01 PM
quote:
Originally posted by sev8n:
We can put a man on the moon but we can't fix a clock...
Well, to be fair, we can no longer put a man on the moon either. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-20-2014 05:38 AM
The Apollo-era countdown clock was turned off for the last time on Wednesday afternoon (Nov. 19) in preparation for its removal and relocation to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. NASA is still working toward having the new clock in place for the Orion EFT-1 launch on Dec. 4. |
p51
Member Posts: 1642
From: Olympia, WA
Registered: Sep 2011
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posted 11-20-2014 10:52 AM
Drove past it a few times when I was at KSC last month. So sad to know it'll be gone, but I'm glad NASA is allowing it to be preserved. After seeing what the visitor center has done with the orbiter Atlantis, I'm sure they'll make a great display out of this clock. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 11-21-2014 11:53 AM
How many "light bulbs" were required to keep that huge old clock operational? (349 by my count.) |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-24-2014 12:59 PM
Kennedy Space Center posted this photo and update on Facebook: Today at Kennedy, workers take apart and remove the historical countdown clock in preparation for the new display that will take its place.  |
mikej
Member Posts: 481
From: Germantown, WI USA
Registered: Jan 2004
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posted 11-26-2014 01:42 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Cozmosis22:
How many "light bulbs" were required to keep that huge old clock operational?
336. From 2nd-most watched clock in the world is retired: After London's Big Ben, NASA says its Kennedy Space Center countdown clock was the world's most watched. Not anymore: It was taken down yesterday, WESH reports.The clock, with 336 40-watt light bulbs, has been around since November 1969, when it ticked away the seconds until the launch of Apollo 12. |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 11-26-2014 02:35 PM
336 for the digits, plus 9 for the +/- sign and 4 for the pair of colons, according to the November 2014 issue of Spaceport Magazine. |
Cozmosis22
Member Posts: 968
From: Texas * Earth
Registered: Apr 2011
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posted 11-26-2014 02:59 PM
Farewell big bluey and good luck with your new home. Remember standing up close behind it and hearing the slow clank... clank... clank of the seconds going by. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-28-2014 03:10 PM
Via Frank Ochoa-Gonzales, a first look at the newly-installed digital clock: |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 11-28-2014 03:32 PM
Too much video. Not enough clock. There is barely enough room for the +/- signs. The digits should be a lot larger. At what distance would this new clock become unreadable, compared to the old countdown clock? |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 11-28-2014 06:58 PM
It's an LED display. They can program the entire screen to be the clock. |
JBoe
Member Posts: 960
From: Churchton, MD
Registered: Oct 2012
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posted 11-28-2014 09:30 PM
It looks like they kept the same pedestal/refurbished it. I would have thought that it was a complete package. |
Joel Katzowitz
Member Posts: 808
From: Marietta GA USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 11-29-2014 08:58 AM
Agreed. I would have expected an entirely new clock structure. |
Rick Mulheirn
Member Posts: 4167
From: England
Registered: Feb 2001
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posted 11-29-2014 09:32 AM
If it ain't broke... |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 11-29-2014 10:21 AM
I would imagine that in the final minutes of the count, it will be all numbers just like the old clock. Time will tell.  |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 12-02-2014 05:54 PM
Will they use this clock for the EFT-1 launch? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-02-2014 07:38 PM
The clock is already in use for EFT-1, ticking down the time to launch. That said, most of the press won't view the launch near (or in sight of) the clock, as LC-37 is not visible from the press site. |
Ronpur
Member Posts: 1211
From: Brandon, Fl
Registered: May 2012
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posted 12-03-2014 05:23 PM
I saw some photos of it this morning. Looks like a jumbo screen in a stadium. |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 12-03-2014 07:04 PM
I think it would be neat if the screen would be used to replicate the look of the old clock, with the blue strip at the bottom that says "hour - minute - second" recreated digitally, along with large numbers that replicate the appearance of the original clock's numbers...perhaps with slightly increased width and definition to the lettering. If done right, one might not even notice (from a distance) that a new clock is in use.Nobody really needs to see anything other than the countdown numbers in most circumstances. If there was a launch delay or other circumstances where more information needed to be relayed to the press, then the clock could be used to present that information. After all, the "show" is the launch, not the clock. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 12-03-2014 08:15 PM
Here is the countdown clock as seen just after sunrise on Wednesday (Dec. 3): |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-04-2014 12:28 PM
The STS-110 crew posed at the old countdown clock in 2002. Any others? |
LM-12
Member Posts: 3208
From: Ontario, Canada
Registered: Oct 2010
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posted 12-05-2014 07:38 AM
quote:
Originally posted by KSCartist:
They can program the entire screen to be the clock.
Looks like they chose not to for the EFT-1 launch this morning. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42988
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 02-24-2016 08:47 PM
The former Kennedy Space Center press site countdown clock is now operational again and on display outside the entrance to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. (Photo credit: Chris Boyd) |
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