Last Endeavour Shuttle Launch

[constantmotion]

Space shuttle Endeavour, NASA's youngest orbiter, is scheduled to blast off into space for the final time at 8:56 am ET today, marking the next-to-last scheduled launch of the 30-year shuttle program.

Watch it Live here:

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/05/endeavour-shuttle-fixed-and-ready-for-liftoff.html

 

[Scattman]

I am gonna watch it out the frt window. Excellent view of it from here as it heads out. We are a couple hours NW of the Cape. "thumbsup""thumbsup"

Daughter and I will be a little late dropping her off at school today. :ror:

The NASA channel has great coverage and numerous different camera angles.

 

[Scattman]

T-minus 3 minutes and counting.

 

[Scattman]

T-minus 1 minute and counting.

 

[JeremyH]

Hummm....still nothing.

 

[JeremyH]

Ahh....here we go!

 

[Slowkrawl]

Kinda glad I came on here, I flipped to cnn and it was 30 seconds to launch. Kinda cool, never actually watched a launch live before. I'd love to watch one in person. The fact that in about 3 minutes they were doing 13xxxmph excites me haha.

 

[Scattman]

NASA TV will also play numerous replays from different camera angles all morning long.

 

[kennyj]

Could you see it from Hawthorne? It was pretty cloudy this morning.

 

[nascarkeith]

I have been teaching the 1960's and the Apollo program in my class. Also watched Apollo 13 this weekend for the humpteenth time. I really hate that Obama killed the space program. I would love to see them go back to the moon in my lifetime. I wonder if we could do it or if our technology would crap out on us.

 

[microgoat]

The problem isn't the technology, it's paying for it in a tight economy. The Shuttle was/is awesome at getting heavy payloads into orbit, and many of those were paid missions. Going to the moon doesn't have much in the way of a commercial payout, unless you take up a collection to send Barack there on a one-way trip.

 

[jetboat]

its very sad to see the space program basically coming to an end. The technilogical advances that we made because of it were imense. If not for the space program (shuttle specifically) we wouldnt have Velcro or Microwaves. We can hope that when the new president gets elected next year, that they will see that not having a space program is a huge loss.

I've been seeing allot of info on the private space program lately. Its seems that private space travel may be closer to a reality that people would think. Sure they might not be heading to the moon but, at least the research will continue.

 

[JeremyH]

we wouldnt have Velcro or Microwaves.

Or Tang! "thumbsup"

 

[Szczerba]

Or Tang! "thumbsup"

or "Throwing the cat into the wall game".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MvU9GZjBTzs

 

[TexasSP]

and tempurpedic matresses.......

 

[BigSki]

. Going to the moon doesn't have much in the way of a commercial payout, unless you take up a collection to send Barack there on a one-way trip.

IN! Where do I sent a contribution?

 

[nascarkeith]

The problem isn't the technology, it's paying for it in a tight economy. The Shuttle was/is awesome at getting heavy payloads into orbit, and many of those were paid missions. Going to the moon doesn't have much in the way of a commercial payout, unless you take up a collection to send Barack there on a one-way trip.

Yeah, I know all of that is true. There really isn't much to gain in space anymore. I just hate to see it go away. I mean who doesn get a kick out of watching a shuttle launch and who hasn't looked at the night sky and just wondered what's out there. Hopefully the private sector will pick up where the government leaves off.

I am just so amazed at what Apollo did with basically a 4 function calculator and at how well the old P-51's and even now the Warthogs do with cables and hydraulics. I just wonder if our technology is as good as we think it is or if those old guys just grunted it out and made it happen.

 

[microgoat]

I remember watching the Apollo launches :shock: I don't think we'll ever see their like again.

 

[Scattman]

Could you see it from Hawthorne? It was pretty cloudy this morning.

Oh yeah. "thumbsup""thumbsup" 5 seconds into the launch and we could see it.

Zoe and I watched it this morning till out of sight then we watched the rest on NASA TV. It was a little hazy here. They have excellent camera coverage.
I will watch it off and on while they are at the I.S.S. All the spacewalks are shown live on there as well as day to day operations aboard the shuttle/ISS.