Beeker in the attic

Beeker

Just come down from the attic after major cleanup led by the good Mrs Beeker While up there I took the opportunity to take down some of my old Shuttle folders/scrap books that I put together back in the early eighties during the early shuttle flights. They contain newspaper clippings, articles from magazines like Time. Newsweek, Flight, Countdown etc. I also have lots of stuff from NASA like mission reports, photo's, autographs etc.
I plan to scan in all this stuff over the next few months and will post some of it as I go along. Some of you should find it interesting I hope.
I plan to attach them as PDF files.
First up the STS-1 Mission report and a piece from Time magazine from April 1981

lord lucan

Great stuff Beeker. It's always great to read contemporary reports and articles of historic events in comparison to revisionist stuff or stuff written well after the fact.:)

fifilarue

Jeepers I'm getting old. What a different place the world seemed then. Thanks a million Beeker.

Beeker

Going on holidays this weekjend for two weeks but will get into scanning the folders when I get back. The folders cover every Shuttle flight up to the late 90's when I started keeping the info and photos on PC.

Stay tuned for lots more from Beekers Attic:)

Beeker

Some more from the Attic for STS-1:)

Beeker

Some from STS-2 Nov 12-14 1981. I remember it well:)
This scanning has brought back some great memories.

Beeker

Last 2 from STS-2

fifilarue

Hi Beeker-did you write to the astronauts for an autograph or did you actually get to meet them?

Beeker

fifilarue wrote: »

Hi Beeker-did you write to the astronauts for an autograph or did you actually get to meet them?

Wrote to them at the time and was always trilled when the autographs arrived back. I have them for most of the astronauts who flew on the early flights. However I did meet John Young years latter in Dublin:)

ynotdu

Beeker as You know i have tried to keep My gob shut on this thread,but i am so overwhelmed by Yesterdays additions i had to say an extra big Thank You for this amazing stuff so far.
The effort You have gone to is much appreciated and the truely historic articles and images are priceless.
I hope after Your holiday You will continue this,also i hope You don't mind if i download and keep them.
It's Magic Beeker!

fifilarue

Well Beeker, posting them here is a really lovely thing to do even though I spent so much time reading them yesterday, I got feck all work done...lovely memories for yourself too I'd imagine.

Beeker

Thanks lads:) Lots more to scan and post. I have some great stuff from the latter flights in the 80's. Will add it all over the next few months. As I said going on holidays to Turkey this sat for 2 weeks so will start to add more from Sept.:)

Beeker

ynotdu wrote: »

Beeker as You know i have tried to keep My gob shut on this thread,but i am so overwhelmed by Yesterdays additions i had to say an extra big Thank You for this amazing stuff so far.
The effort You have gone to is much appreciated and the truely historic articles and images are priceless.
I hope after Your holiday You will continue this,also i hope You don't mind if i download and keep them.
It's Magic Beeker!

Thanks ynotdu fell free to download anything you want.:)

Beeker

Continuing with STS-3/Columbia March 22-30 1982.

Beeker

STS-4/Columbia, June 27 - July 4 1982.

lord lucan

Interesting reading the Time piece on STS-3 and the journalist making reference to the 'unsightly' colour of the ET without it's white paint. It's now part of the iconic launch configuration image and looks strange in white!!

Great reading Beeker,thanks for posting.:)

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Interesting reading the Time piece on STS-3 and the journalist making reference to the 'unsightly' colour of the ET without it's white paint. It's now part of the iconic launch configuration image and looks strange in white!!

Great reading Beeker,thanks for posting.:)

Lots more on the way, if I can just keep all the dust out of my nose:D

Can really see the love you have for this subject Beeker. Its wonderful. How great that you kept all that stuff. Thanks for sharing it.

Nice to see happy things.:)

Beeker

STS-5 / Columbia 11-16 November 1982

Beeker

STS-5 continued

Beeker

STS-6 / Challenger 4-9 April 1983.

First launch of Orbiter Challenger.

lord lucan

Diary of a Shuttle launch was a great read,really enjoyed that.:)

Beeker

lord lucan wrote: »

Diary of a Shuttle launch was a great read,really enjoyed that.:)

Yeah he really captures the excitement of launch:) Sad to say of course that half the STS-5 crew are now dead. Pilot Robert Overmyer died in 1996 and MS William Lenoir died just 4 weeks ago.

Beeker

STS-7 / Challenger 18-24 June 1983

Beeker

STS-8 / Challenger. 30 August - 5 September 1983.

First Night launch and landing for Shuttle.

Beeker

STS-8 Continued............

Beeker

STS-9 / Columbia. 28 November - 8 December 1983.

First Spacelab flight.

Beeker

STS-9 Continued...............

Stargate

Am Playing catchup Beeker lol , you have been a busy boy

Just how BIG is the attic ? :rolleyes: ha

Stargate

Beeker

Stargate wrote: »

Am Playing catchup Beeker lol , you have been a busy boy

Just how BIG is the attic ? :rolleyes: ha

Stargate

It's like a black hole up there. I keep finding stuff I thought I had lost years ago. Great memories can be found when you dig into old junk:D

Stargate

Beeker wrote: »

It's like a black hole up there. I keep finding stuff I thought I had lost years ago. Great memories can be found when you dig into old junk:D

such is life Beeker , Its amazing the memories and feelings we recall with fotos and stuff we have packed away for years !!! I hear LL still has his Teddy Bear ....awwwww hahaha

lord lucan

Stargate wrote: »

such is life Beeker , Its amazing the memories and feelings we recall with fotos and stuff we have packed away for years !!! I hear LL still has his Teddy Bear ....awwwww hahaha

I do!:p

On that note my da' actually dropped over the old Commodore 64 we had as kids. He bought it in 1984 as an educational tool but all me and my brother wanted to do was play games on it!! Fired it up last night and it still works!!

Stargate

lord lucan wrote: »

I do!:p

On that note my da' actually dropped over the old Commodore 64 we had as kids. He bought it in 1984 as an educational tool but all me and my brother wanted to do was play games on it!! Fired it up last night and it still works!!

i had one of those too LL and a zx spectrum

lord lucan

Stargate wrote: »

i had one of those too LL and a zx spectrum

Ah feck,i'm feeling old now!:(

Beeker

Stargate wrote: »

i had one of those too LL and a zx spectrum

I had one myself....I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Will we ever forget a full 48K of RAM:D

Stargate

lord lucan wrote: »

Ah feck,i'm feeling old now!:(

Join the club Leo :P you planning any trips to Florida soon haha

Stargate

Beeker wrote: »

I had one myself....I thought it was the coolest thing ever. Will we ever forget a full 48K of RAM:D

48K and loading the progs was just soooooooo easy haha
:eek: dont bump against the table , im loading space invaders haha

Rubecula

I am feeling really old now. I remember buying a game machine for the TV for my sister's birthday... and then playing it myself.... when the TV was free.

Only game it had was "tennis" in black and white. (Mind you the TV was black and white too LOL)

lord lucan

Stargate wrote: »

Join the club Leo :P you planning any trips to Florida soon haha

Afraid not,finances and time off are conspiring against me. Can't complain though,was happy enough to have finally achieved the dream last november.:)

Stargate

Rubecula wrote: »

I am feeling really old now. I remember buying a game machine for the TV for my sister's birthday... and then playing it myself.... when the TV was free.

Only game it had was "tennis" in black and white. (Mind you the TV was black and white too LOL)

Hiya Rubecula

I had one of them too , the thought of it now makes me laugh

bing .... bing ....... bing ........... BONG

Stargate

lord lucan wrote: »

Afraid not,finances and time off are conspiring against me. Can't complain though,was happy enough to have finally achieved the dream last november.:)

Yes LL , so very true , a dream come true . For us here it was great having you there LEO you did a great job too with your daily updates , Thank you , i will always remember you being there and then us here in Ireland watching the skies ...really cool LL

Stargate

Rubecula

Stargate wrote: »

Hiya Rubecula

I had one of them too , the thought of it now makes me laugh

bing .... bing ....... bing ........... BONG

The thing is, back then it was AMAZING. Fantastic technology and it will never get better than this... ROFL

Even the pub games didn't have proper colour just coloured tape over the screen so each level of a game (Especially "Breakout") was 'better' than the home games, yet I liked playing Tennis with my siblings ...... when I won, which was not often. (I haven't improved much with games)

Stargate

Rubecula wrote: »

The thing is, back then it was AMAZING. Fantastic technology and it will never get better than this... ROFL

Even the pub games didn't have proper colour just coloured tape over the screen so each level of a game (Especially "Breakout") was 'better' than the home games, yet I liked playing Tennis with my siblings ...... when I won, which was not often. (I haven't improved much with games)

I put a " Breakout game " on my little sons PC , but its " ME " that plays it

Rubecula

Breakout was very popular, which meant I was usually half cut by the time I got to get a go on it. Asteroids was another good one, and that became a "home" game too eventually.:)

Beeker

STS-41B Challenger, 3-11 February 1984. Shuttle flight 10.



This was my favourite of the early flights:) 1984 was the year of my leaving cert so a great distraction for me:)

Beeker

STS-41B continued...........

Beeker

STS-41B continued..........

Rubecula

Were you something of a hoarder in a past existance? ROFL:D

Great stuff.

Beeker

Rubecula wrote: »

Were you something of a hoarder in a past existance? ROFL:D

Great stuff.

Yeah but just space stuff. Don't forget this was in the days before that interweb thing:D

whynotdo

Beeker i have at last reached the last installment so far of 'Beeker in the attic'. It is fantastic!

Seriously i wonder how many people have those kind of records in the preserved quality You have them?
I wonder if Bergin on NSF might be interested in starting a thread based on these kind of personal memorie's where You could post them as well as here,they deserve as wide an audiance as possible.

Weird and strange reading about STS-1 onwards and many misconceptions i had are now sorted.
sad too to read all about Columbia and Challenger's early days.

some of the early days of Shuttle sort of read like the keystone cops:)
it is more like reading about the early days of Mercury,Crazy Astronauts(was it Alan Shepard or John Glenn who in exasperation asked MC to "for god sake light the candle"after one delay too many?)

Shoddy Spacesuits that caused cancellations of EVA.s
nuts and bolts found free floating in the flight/mideck
and John Young and John Young and John Y...........:) (He was everywhere in the early Shuttle flights,showing what a safe pair of hands he was considered)

They were really unfortunate with the failure of Satellites(through no fault of their own)wer'nt they? Would have helped STS to pay for itself:(

reading about the first flight of Spacelab.......great stuff! (think it was not allowed again after loss of Challenger,is that right?)

also You might make a few bob with the evidence You have against Bruce Mc Candles Court case,showing for what ever reason He is doing it the Bull he is claiming about being devalued:pac:

One final thought,although it is explained in one of the articles and i had asked and You explained before,i still had a little moment of as to how STS-9 was followed by STS-41b.
Then i remembered that it was to do with NASA's fiscal Year and Launch Pad etc, but i also read from usually reliable source that the new NASA Admin had an irrational fear of the Number 13 and this was his real reason for changing flight numbers:)

Beeker

STS-41C / Challenger. April 6-13 1984. Shuttle Flight: 11