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Space Shuttle Timelapse
  • Sadly...about an hour ago we sent off the last of the last space shuttles to California. I don't have any pictures from co-workers yet of it flying over the community but I will post if I can. I thought the following timelaps of its preparations was a cool thing to post. Enjoy:

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  • Great stuff, Ian_T!

    Gad, lot of people involved. Were they all working, or just snapping pictures? Do they have to build a rig like that at the other end to get it off the plane?

  • I wasn't the videographer on this actually.

    There is a rig out in California already to remove it off the plane. As a matter of fact when there is bad weather out here in Florida on a day that they need to land they usually divert the flight to California. From there they would load the shuttle on the back of those modified 747's and fly them back here to Kennedy.

  • I love the space program. What's your job, if I may ask?

  • I love the space program. What's your job, if I may ask?

    An engineer for the company that builds (or built) the external tank. We have (had) a faciltiy in New Orleans that continuously built the tank and shipped it out to KSC. Then we serviced it from there. Of course...things have changed rapidly for a lot of us over the last year or so. But I managed to survive the crunch. I've also worked on our Atlas rocket program as well (you could probably figure out who I work for from here).

    The space industry out here is going through a huge overhaul. One of our neighbors or competitors for commercial launches is Elon Musk (the guy who created and sold PayPal). I'm rooting for him and whoever else jumps on board. Though rockets still take off from here every now and then it will not be the same until there is a shuttle replacement. But we are working on that...so things are looking up.

  • thanks for posting Ian

  • The 747+Endeavor flew right over my house this morning...at about 1500 feet. Wish I could have filmed it, but low-level clouds made that difficult. Went out with my dad to the VAB (HUGE) this last weekend and also saw Endeavor. An amazing machine...I could not believe how light and fragile those tiles are that would protect it from re-entry. Will head out again soon to see the Atlantis, Launch Control Center and the launch pad.