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One of the nice things about living in Florida: you can watch a shuttle launch on the TV at Appleby's and then step outside in time to watch it sail across the sky.
Like we just did.
This is Discovery, taking off for the space station, March 15, 2009.
The space shuttle Endeavour flew over Houston and landed at Ellington Field on its final flight from Florida to California. Mom went to see it. The shuttle was bolted to a 747 for its flight.
The Space Shuttle Enterprise does a flyby around NYC landmarks before landing at JFK Airport. It will be put on display at the Intrepid Museum
The Space Shuttle Enterprise does a flyby around NYC landmarks before landing at JFK Airport. It will be put on display at the Intrepid Museum
The Pathfinder Shuttle Stack at the U.S Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL, is the only full shuttle stack in the world.
Pathfinder served as a non-flight test vehicle and is currently undergoing restoration.
The Space Shuttle was a partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program name was Space Transportation System (STS), taken from a 1969 plan for a system of reusable spacecraft where it was the only item funded for development.
The first of four orbital test flights occurred in 1981, leading to operational flights beginning in 1982. Five complete Space Shuttle orbiter vehicles were built and flown on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011, launched from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Operational missions launched numerous satellites, interplanetary probes, and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), conducted science experiments in orbit, participated in the Shuttle-Mir program with Russia, and participated in construction and servicing of the International Space Station (ISS).
This is the Space Shuttle Atlantis (left hand streak) and the International Space Station (right streak) around 10:00 p.m. local time on June 19, 2007 as they passed overhead. Atlantis had undocked from ISS a few hours earlier, so they were on slightly different orbits. You can see the stars of the Big Dipper's handle on the left (including the famous double Mizar and Alcor).
Space Shuttle Discovery launches on its STS-120 mission.
Please see my space launch viewing blog for additional information and the full story.