1 Beeker, 5 Orbiters...A History

Beeker

Though I would share my story of following the Space Shuttle for over 30 years as we approach the last flight.

I will add to it as I get the time over the next few weeks:)

Part 1 The Begining

My interest in the Space Shuttle stems from the Viking landings on Mars in 1976. I was 9 at the time and my father told me about these spaceships that were going to Mars. The idea captured my imagination but my Dad being no expert in the subject could not answer all the questions I had. He did the next best thing and bought me a book on spaceflight. From the moment I opened it I was hooked. I learned all about the Apollo moon flights and NASA’s plan to build a Space Shuttle.
At the back of the book they gave an address for NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and I wrote my first letter requesting more information. I still remember posting that letter and the wait that seemed to take forever to receive a reply. It was magic the reply came in a large white A4 envelope with NASA printed across the top, it contained a wealth of information on the Shuttle, Viking, Voyager and Apollo. I was in heaven. I must have read everything at least 10 times. In the years after I wrote to NASA many times and received a huge amount of information but no letter ever came close to the excitement of that first one.
I followed as close as I could the development of the shuttle through the regular updates from NASA and from articles in magazines cut out by understanding relatives who were always on the lookout for information for me. To this day my Mother now in her 80’s still collects articles from papers and magazines and often rings me when she hears something on the TV or radio. Despite the ready availability of all this information now on the internet it still warms my heart to receive this from her.
By 1981 I was 13 and had gathered a ton of information on the Shuttle and on the first flight. I knew the vehicle inside out and could not wait for the first launch STS-1. It was due in March but got delayed until Friday April 10th. This was a school day of course and my poor Mother had to write me a note to get off under the pretence of a family engagement. I rushed home and set up my own little mission control. I sat on the floor in front of the TV with a number of magazines and the timeline for the countdown and mission. I had photos of the crew and a model of the Shuttle stack next to me on a table and a tape recorder {no video in the beeker household in 1981}. Family was banned from the room and I was set.
RTE, BBC and ITV were providing coverage so I had plenty of choice. The legend Leo Enright was on RTE and he became the voice of the shuttle for me back in the early days. The countdown went smoothly until during the T-9 min hold they had a problem with one of the onboard computers and the launch was scrubbed. I was gutted after all this time and to get so close. Launch was reset for two days later Sunday April 12th. Once again I was set up in front of the TV and this time I was not to be disappointed as at 12 midday Columbia launched into the blue Florida sky and I nearly collapsed with excitement, I had never known such emotion and it still sends shivers down my spine when I think back to that day. I still have that audio cassette from that morning.
The next two days were filled with watching every news program and reading newspapers to try and follow the flight. Landing was on Tuesday 14th and again the TV was mine for the live coverage, Columbia glided smoothly out of the Californian sky and touched down, it was beautiful to watch. I was high as a kite for days after and nearly wore out the tape as I relived every moment of launch and landing over and over again.
It was incredible and was the beginning of a lifelong love affair with the Shuttle.

Your love and enthusiasm and knowledge for the Space Shuttle is a beautiful thing.
Ive always enjoyed reading your posts. Learned a lot.

peterako

Excellent Post Beeker!!

Long may your enthusiasm last...and may it be infectious to all!!

Peter

Rubecula

Excellent post Beeker, I am impressed by both your knowledge and your enthusiasm for the Shuttle. I tended to lose a bit of interest in the shuttle when I found out it only went into orbit and no further. Being brought up to see space missions trying to go further and do more, a space version of an HGV soon paled for me really. Although the sticking it on the back of a jumbo still intrigues me, as I once thought that that was how it was going to be launched

I was raised on a diet of Mercury and Gemini missions, and then followed the Apollo missions almost religiously. I suppose that is why I am so interested in what is next, always what is next..... and beyond.

Wish we had a valid space program here too, that would really get me interested at least for a while. Something that took off and landed like a plane and didn't just get as far as orbit would be really great to me.

Mind you I am the first to admit, getting rid of the shuttle before a viable replacement is up and running is a backward step, a bit like the loss of Concorde.

Beeker

Thanks for all the comments. The Shuttle has been a major part of my life and I just felt that I should share the memories before it comes to an end.

Part 2 - The Early Years

It was a long summer of 1981 waiting for Columbia to launch again. Beeker fell in love and out of it again I was now 14 and starting 3rd year in school, the inter-cert year. I was told by my mother that I would not be getting off school for silly things like shuttle launches….yeah right.:rolleyes: November 12 came around and once again I was standing in front of a teacher with a note from my Mam, God bless Mothers.:)
Leo Enright once again provided the coverage and another picture perfect launch. Cassette tape once again capturing every moment of launch and landing. STS-3 came around in March of 82, live coverage was again provided by all the major stations, I was once again in front of a teacher with a note from my Mam, followed by a 2 mile cycle home to catch the launch.
By STS-4 in June of 82 live coverage was no longer provided for every launch much to my disappointment but as luck would have it I knew a chap who was into radios and he got me a shortwave radio so I could pick up the US station “Voice of America” I could now listen to the live coverage of the launch and landing as well as regular updates during flights, but not during STS-4 as this was the first DOD flight and coverage was scarce.
For the next two years I followed every flight with my shortwave radio. It went everywhere with me during flights, school, holidays, everywhere. I bought magazines, newspapers, watched the news and had family and friends on the lookout for any information they could get. I must say looking back I did well to be able to follow it as close as I did in the days before the internet. We got our first video recorder in December 1982 so I was able to record the news from STS-6 in April 83.
By June 1984 there had been 11 flights and now I had finished my leaving cert and had the chance to go to the states to work for the summer in Atlanta. My plan was to get to Florida somehow during my time there and visit the Kennedy Space Center. Little did I know how events would work out even better. The 12th flight, STS-41D was due to launch a few days after I arrived in Atlanta which was great because I knew I would get to watch live coverage on US television. This would be the first flight of Discovery.
On June 26 I was watching on TV in a friend’s house just outside the town of Snellville in Georgia when Discovery’s engines ignited and abruptly shut down again in the first ever Shuttle pad abort, My heart stopped beating for a few seconds in shock. I was sure the shuttle was going to explode as there was talk of a fire and one engine not shutting down. All turned out well in the end but it was a scary moment and a reminder of just how dangerous this vehicle could be. As it happened this was just what I needed as the flight was delayed to August which suddenly gave me a chance to catch the launch if I was lucky. I worked and saved all the summer and finally convince a friend with a car to take the trip to Florida for the launch. What a drive I was 17 and heading on a road trip from Atlanta to Titusville in Florida to watch the Space Shuttle launch, I could hardly believe my luck to be in such a position. It was a trip of about 500 miles but it felt like 5000, I thought we would never get there. During the drive we got word on the news of a 24 hour delay which took some off the pressure on us. We finally arrived at Titusville early on August 29th and with no where to stay parked the car along the Indian River overlooking the Kennedy Space Center. There were crowds there all staking out a viewing spot, so we were lucky to get anywhere. The day passed and as night descended we could see the launch pad illumined across the river. It was fantastic, what a sight. It was a long night spent listening to the radio as they broadcast the countdown. Early the next morning the place was packed with people, the roads where full of cars and campervans bumper to bumper. We set up our cameras and waited.

The sun rose over the Atlantic that morning like no other, I was there standing in its light about to witness one of the most incredible moments of my life. At 07:41 on August 30th 1984 Discovery’s engines roared into life followed 6 seconds later by the twin solid rocket boosters. She leaped from the pad and soared into the early morning sky, from our vantage point we could see Discovery climb as we photographed her. Slowly I became aware of a noise coming across the water, a deep rumble and a crackling, it was of course the noise from the shuttle reaching us from the pad which was about 10 miles away.


We followed her for about 5 minutes as she arched out over the Atlantic. I was shaking and found myself crying with joy. I had just witnessed something miraculous and my life would never be the same again. It was as close as I would ever get to a religious experience. I had now watched, listened to and experienced all 12 shuttle launches live. Life was good and Beeker was very very happy.:)

To be continued..........................

Beeker

Part 3 - From Glory to Disaster

After I returned from the states I found I had a renewed interest in the shuttle, I could now picture the KSC and the infrastructure involved which only added to the fascination. Through 1985 the flights came hot and heavy. A total of nine launches that year kept me very busy as I worked my way through college and life in general. There were a number of great flights that year with satellite launches, repairs, spacelab, the STS-51F Challenger Abort to Orbit and the first launch of Atlantis. The highlight for me that year was the flight of Challenger on mission STS-61A. Launched on October 30th is was a dedicated scientific Spacelab flight funded and directed by Germany {or West Germany as it was then}. Called Spacelab D1 it has a record 8 people on board. The unique thing about this flight was that in order to fly over Germany the Shuttle was launched into a 57 degree orbit. This was a first for the Shuttle and meant that the Shuttle would be visible over Irish skies. Although this is common place now it was a big thing back then. I spent a few frustrated nights with cloud cover blocking any view but finally the skies cleared and I gathered a few friends together to watch. What a sight it was, right on time it passed overhead, I was so excited, there was Challenger in the sky! We take it for granted now to see the Shuttle and ISS pass over, but in 1985 it was magic to see.

By January of 1986 there had been 23 flights and the 24th was now due. STS-61C / Columbia proved a difficult mission to get going with 7 launch scrubs. Very frustrating for someone with a shortwave radio trying to catch the launch. Finally it came together and Columbia blasted off on January 12th returning on the 18th. Challenger was due up next just a few days later. This was great as the launch rate was picking up but it made it harder to keep up. Remember this was before the Internet and information was hard to come by, all my resources were stretched to the limit mostly magazines at this stage, Spaceflight, Spaceflight News, Countdown, Flight, Astronomy, Time, Newsweek and anywhere I could find an article.
I was in work on January 27 with my shortwave waiting for the Challenger 51L launch but it was not to be, they had a problem with the handle on the side hatch and by the time they resolved it the launch window ran out. 24 hours later I was again tuned into Voice of America. It was January 28th 1986, Challenger was about to launch for the 10th time on the 25th Shuttle flight. I often think back to this day and how it felt, how shocking the few minutes after launch were, the confusion, the questions, what happened? I remember the commentator going very quiet and then saying that he thought the vehicle had exploded. “No way” was my first thought “Shuttles don’t explode” but slowly the reality sank in. I was numb, I needed to see what was happening; radio is just not good enough. Within minutes I was cycling home as fast as my legs would go. As I suspected there was massive coverage on the TV, even RTE had a feed from CNN. I spent that evening in front of the TV and received numerous phone calls from family and friends wanting to know what happened. The days after are a blur as I scrambled to get information, newspapers were full of it, inaccurate reporting was everywhere with sensecational speculations, it was hard to get real facts for a while. The accident had a huge impact on me, it was like a death in the family. I had lived every minute of every flight from the start and knew the names and bios of every crew. There was even speculation that the Shuttle would never fly again. The Challenger disaster closed the first chapter on the Shuttle, it was a defining moment in its story and things were never to be the same again for the Shuttle or for me!

Beeker

Part 4 - The Middle Years


It took over two years for the Shuttle program to recover. STS-26 Discovery finally launched on 29 September 1988. I got time off work to go home for the launch, it was like the old days as there was great live coverage on the TV. After the flight the media once again lost interest in the shuttle and I was back to my trusted shortwave radio. Some great flight's followed with the launch of Magellan to Venus on STS-30, Galileo to Jupiter on STS-34, Ulysses to the Sun on STS-41 and of course Hubble on STS-31. 1990 was a great year, I met my future wife, we moved in together and a mate of mine bought a satellite system which had CNN. Within days I had invested in the same system and things would never be the same again. Live coverage of every flight was now a reality.
Getting the time off to watch them was a different matter and so sometimes I still needed the use the shortwave radio. Mrs. Beeker of course was very understanding and never complained {at least not much}:D when I had CNN on for hours at a time. This was a great time to be following the flights, CNN covered launches and landings live, they also gave daily updates. In 1992 Endeavour was launched on her maiden flight with a dramatic satellite repair in orbit which included the first ever 3 person spacewalk and the first use of the drag chute during landings. The DOD flights came to an end in 1992 with STS-53, this ended the frustration of media blackouts during military flights.
I got married in 1994 and just made it back from the honeymoon in time to catch the launch of Discovery on STS-64, it was a close thing, I remember racing into the house and turning on CNN with just a few minutes left in the count.
STS-63 Discovery performed the first rendezvous with the MIR space station in Feb 1995, this provided spectacular images of Discovery in space taken from MIR, again this is common place now but back then it was a first and very exciting. A few months later Atlantis docked with MIR for the first time on STS-71
Mrs. Beeker became pregnant and was due in early September 1995, don’t ask me where I found the time in between flights.:D Now the greatest challenge of my life began, her due date was also the scheduled launch date for the 71st flight STS-69 Endeavour. This was going to be tricky, as we got closer to the launch date of Aug 31, Mrs. Beeker showed no sign of going into labor so it looked good but the launch was scrubbed and delayed to September 7th. Mrs. Beeker went a week overdue and as the luck of the gods would have it she went into labor on launch day September 7:eek: Straight to hospital we went and the long wait began. Endeavour was due to launch just after 4 in the afternoon but I was in the hospital with a very unhappy and uncomfortable Mrs. Beeker. Her labor stopped and the nurse said that it could take a good few hours before anything would happen. I casually mentioned that maybe I could take off for an hour in the vague hope that I might catch the launch. My loving wife looked at me and smiled “Go just go and get back straight away”:), like a child at Christmas I jumped and sped home. Endeavour launched, Beeker was happy and I was back at her bedside within an hour. My beautiful baby Daughter was born the following day without any problems. I wanted to call her Endeavour but of course was overruled by She that knows best.:D To this day she often brings up the fact that I left her during labor, what can I say, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.:D
The late 90’s saw a number of memorable flight with Hubble servicing flights, Mir dockings, Spacelab science flights, John Glenn flying on STS-95 and the beginning of construction of the ISS. The internet was now my main source of information. I received regular e-mails at work from NASA making it a lot easier to follow the flights. I bought my first computer in 1996 and connected to the internet at home with the good old “dial up” service, but what a difference the internet made, instant and massive amounts of information were now available. By the end of 2000 there had been 101 shuttle flights. I had followed each and every one. I had seen or heard every launch live. The new century was going to be an exciting time.

Beeker

Part 5 - Disaster, The Internet and a new Job


Through 2001 and 2002 all Shuttle flights were dedicated to the assembly of the ISS with the exception of STS-109 Columbia in March 2002 which serviced the Hubble Space Telescope. This flight would also turn out to be the final successful flight for Columbia. I could now watch the launch and landings on the internet using NASA TV or as it was called back then NASA Select. The problem was the speed of the connection which over dial up was terrible. It also meant that just before liftoff as more people logged into the NASA feed the picture would freeze. This meant that I could watch the countdown for a number of hours but in the last minute I would have to turn on CNN or Sky News to watch the actual liftoff. It was not until I finally get broadband that NASA TV became the main source for flights. 2003 dawned with a science flight for Columbia. STS-107 launched on January 16. I recall this launch because I had to do a shift change in work in order to be off for it and still nearly missed the launch due to a power cut in the area. :eek: I was just about to head to a friend’s house when the power was restored and I got to see the launch. 16 days later I was again working and left early to get home for the landing. I was on NASA select when things started to go wrong, it quickly became obvious that this was not going to be a good day. Straight away I put on CNN and spent the rest of the weekend glued to the TV. Another series of phone calls from family and friends wanting to know what had happened. Even Mrs Beeker and my Daughter took an interest for a few hours. It was horrible to watch the Columbia breakup over and over again during constant replays all that weekend.
At the time I was convinced that this would be the end of the Shuttle, I really thought that there was no way they would fly again and it broke my heart. This disaster was different from the Challenger in many ways, for one we now had the internet and satellite TV. Keeping up to date was simple and made life much easier. There followed another 2 years of investigation and rebuilding. Bush announced the plan to go to the Moon and Mars and of course the retirement of my beloved Shuttle. I knew it was coming but hoped the day would never arrive. 2010 was now the deadline. In February 2004 I finally quit smoking after many failed attempts. STS-114 Discovery launched on 26 July 2005 to mark the next and final phase of the Shuttle program. Again we had live coverage on many channels as the media took a brief interest once again. All flights were now dedicated to construction of the Space Station and the final flight to repair Hubble was scrapped but due to public pressure was reinstated. With just 3 orbiters now in the fleet the flight rate was reduced making it far easier to follow. A problem with foam falling from the STS-114 tank led to another shuttle grounding for 12 months so the second post Columbia flight was not until the summer of 2006. The flight of Discovery on STS-116 is very memorable to me because on the day of Launch December 9 2006 I was called into office at work to be informed that I was to be made redundant after 20 years.:( This was a shock but not unexpected as we had a good idea it was coming. 150 of us would go before Christmas. As it happened my last day was December 22 the very day Discovery landed. I started 2007 unemployed for the first time in my life, it is a very strange feeling getting up every day with no work to go to. I was lucky as a position came up in February in a job I was interested in. I applied and was successful.:) I now work at a job I love but it was a tough period of my life as I needed to move away from my family to the UK during 2007 for training. My Daughter was 12 at this time and I did not like being away from her for so long, but it was worth it in the end. In April I celebrated my 40th birthday and received a wonderful present from my family and friends, travel vouchers to allow me to take a trip to the Kennedy Space Center to see another launch.:) I had promised myself the trip for years but could never get the money together as life always got in the way.
Only one flight took place during my time away STS-117 in June. I got to watch that on SKY News in the digs I was staying at. I returned to Waterford at the end of the summer in 07 and began my new job. It was an exciting time for me but the end of the Shuttle program was still lurking out there only a few years ahead and I think I choose to ignore the fact in the hope it would go away. There had now been 120 flights as of the end of 2007. I had been over to see the 12th flight in 1984 and now it was time for a return to see one more.:)

fifilarue

Loved every bit of your story, Beeker. Thanks for sharing.

Kersh

Brilliant thread. Lovely story.

Beeker

Part 6 - Return to Kennedy Space Center


I began planning the trip to Florida at the start of 2008. The problem was picking which flight I should go far. Launches as anyone who follows the Shuttle will know are unpredictable at the best of times. Delays are common and it is a chance you take every time you travel to see one. I wanted to give myself every possible chance of success so I waited and finally saw my opportunity with STS-126 Endeavour. Endeavour was going to act as the launch on need orbiter for the Atlantis STS-125 flight to repair Hubble. As a result Endeavour would be fully ready and sitting on Pad 39B in case she was needed. This meant that Endeavour was already through most of her processing and rolled out to the pad months ahead of her predicted launch date. That took some of the uncertainty away as potential problems during early processing were already complete, still a chance but with better odds. STS-125 was delayed for a few months due to a problem with Hubble so Endeavour was now next up due to launch in November 2008. I booked the flights to arrive the day before launch and crossed my fingers. I was going on this trip by myself, I was going for a 10 day pilgrimage to the Kennedy Space Center. A week later the launch was brought forward two days so now I was due to arrive the day after launch. I quickly re arranged the flights which cost more money but what can you do. This time it looked good launch was due on November 14.
I left Shannon on the morning of the 13 and arrived in Newark airport where I caught a connecting flight to Orlando. I hired a car and drove to Titusville to book into my hotel. Later that night I drove to the banks of the Indian River where I could see Pad 39A lit up across in the Kennedy Space Center. What an awe inspiring sight it was. I don’t think I slept much that night and was up early the next morning to get ready. Launch was due at 19:55 local time so I had the full day to explore the visitor center.



As the day passed the crowds started to build so I staked a claim to a good viewing spot and settled in for the wait. A large TV screen was set up to give full coverage of the countdown in the hours before so we could follow what was going on.





Three and a half hours to go and the astronauts were strapped in and the hatch closed. Two hours prior to launch and it started to get dark, this was going to be a night launch. As the final countdown began a large crowd had gathered at the viewing site. T- 9 minutes, final checks were under way at launch control. I checked my camera and made sure I had spare batteries. T – 5 minutes getting close now, onboard fuel cells started to provide electricity for the orbiter during its flight. T- 3 minutes engine steering and orbiter flight control systems were checked. T – 1 minute, I was in the unreal stage, could this really happen? I had planned this trip for many years and knew that over 50% of all launches are delayed for one reason or another. Would my luck hold? T-31 seconds, it was looking good now as Endeavour’s computers took over control of the final countdown. There are so many systems to check and monitor now that humans cannot do it fast enough so the computers make the decisions. T- 10 seconds 9,8,7,6 command was given for the shuttles three main engines to ignite. They start at 6 seconds before launch in order to have time to reach 100% thrust, computers check that they have reached 100% and are running normally, if not, launch is aborted as has happened many times in the past.
Einstein was right about time being relative, the next 6 seconds took an eternity 3…people started to stand up…2…I was on my feet camera ready…1, the time had arrived at last, I had waited 24 years for this very moment. 0….onboard computers sent the firing command to the shuttles two solid rocket boosters. 7 million pounds of thrust was released as the shuttle lifted off the pad. The sky lit up like a brilliant sunrise.





By the time the shuttle cleared its launch tower it was already travelling in excess of 100 miles per hour. What a sight! It climbed quickly into the night sky like a huge ball of fire. TV views and photos come now where near showing the reality of it, it is incredible, The flames were bright orange not white as the TV images show.
Within 40 seconds it broke the sound barrier. Slowly I started to hear the sound. Light travels faster that sound so you see it before you hear it, a deep rumble in the sky, like velvet being ripped, it seemed to be tearing the sky apart, then I started to feel it, first in the ground as it shook beneath me and then the sound waves hit me in the chest. It’s like someone slapping you or drumming you on the chest.





At 2minutes 11 seconds there was a flash as the boosters fell away to land in the Atlantic. The sky was cloud free so I was able to watch it all the way to engine shutdown at 8 minutes 20 seconds.





The shuttle was then 150 miles high and 1000 miles out over the Atlantic travelling at 17500 miles per hour that’s 5 miles per second. Amazing that you could still see the engines when it was 1000 miles away. 5 minutes later it passed the south coast of Ireland and 75 minutes after that it was back over Florida. 90 minutes to circle the planet. What an experience, what a night! There is something amazing about watching people leave the planet. Pity it took 3 hours to drive back to the hotel just 8 miles away.
I spent the rest of the trip slowly exploring the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral getting to see such things as both launch pads, the historic launch pads, the silo where challenger was laid to rest, the Astronauts beach house, Saturn V center, ISS processing facility and many other sites. I got to meet Astronaut Jon McBride who flew as pilot on STS-41G in 1984. I loved every minute of it but like everything good it had to finish and with my time there over I headed back home to see out the last few flights.

cyrusdvirus

I remember all the hubbub of STS-61A. All my neighbours out on the street looking up for this dot in the sky, before we went to Saturday evening mass!!

I developed an affinity for Challenger that day, and cried my 10 year old eyes out less than 3 months later....

Beeker

Part 7 - The Last Days


In January 2009 I joined Boards.ie; this gave me access to like minded people on the Astronomy and Space forum. For the first time I came across people in Ireland who shared the same passion I had for the space program. I made some great friends here and it was refreshing and still is, to be able to share the interest with fellow nerds. Around this time I bought a plasma TV and was able to hook up my laptop to it which allowed me to watch NASA TV on the big screen with the surround sound on. This has made following the missions a pure pleasure. You can’t beat a live launch on the big screen. A far cry for my days huddle over the shortwave radio, however I often miss those days when it was exciting to pick up the signal on the radio and to listen to those far off launches. STS-125 in May of 09 was the final flight to repair the Hubble telescope, it was also the final stand alone shuttle flight. No ISS docking so it was the last “classic shuttle flight” as I remembered them. It was a great success and produced fantastic video and photos. STS-128 in August of that year launched while I was on holidays in Turkey. This was the closest I ever came to missing a launch. I had my laptop with me and had to go to a nearby bar to get Wi-Fi coverage. The launch was at 06:59 in the morning Turkish time and the bar was due to open at 07:00. Thankfully a kind local bar owner open early to accommodate me after I asked him and explained what I was at the night before. He was fascinated and watched the launch with me. One more convert for the cause.
2010 started as the predicted last year of shuttle operations. I hoped and hoped that the program would get a reprieve and continue flying into the future but as time passed and the final flights were flown one after another, it began to look like the end really was in sight. I started to really take in every minute of every flight, I did not want to miss anything. Atlantis flew STS-132 in May 2010 and due to problems with payloads it turned out to be the final flight of the year. STS-135 was added to the manifest so by January of 2011 only three flights remained, one for each Orbiter.
Discovery flew her last flight on STS-133 in February. After 39 missions her career was over. I had been to her first launch in 1984 so she always held a special place in my heart. She will eventually be displayed in the Smithsonian in Washington and I look forward to seeing her there.
STS-134 was the final flight for Endeavour in May. She had made 25 trips to space including STS-126 which was also the second launch I had gone to. Endeavour will be displayed in the California Science Center in LA. I hope someday to visit her there.
And so I wait for the final flight. As I write Atlantis is sitting on Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center for her and the Programs last flight. 30 years have passed since the 13 year old Beeker sat in front of the TV back in 1981 to watch Columbia launch for the first time. I have seen or heard every single 134 launches live over all those years, not an easy task but one I am proud to have achieved. This last flight will be a very emotional time for me and I think I will find it hard to accept it when it all ends. Wheel stop on 135 will be tough. As sad as it is for me I feel privilege to have lived through this period of history, to have witnessed the golden age of human exploration of space.
God speed the crew of STS-135.
Final part after STS-135

djhaxman

Makes for good reading Beeker, thanks for posting

just shed a little tear reading that Beeker.

Thanks for sharing it all with us.

Rubecula

Wonderful stuff Beeker, I enjoyed your reminiscing very much indeed.

Are you planning on going back over there to see anything else?

Beeker

Rubecula wrote: »

Wonderful stuff Beeker, I enjoyed your reminiscing very much indeed.

Are you planning on going back over there to see anything else?

At this stage I hope to go see all the orbiters in their museums. A nice trip to New York for Enterprise, Washington for Discovery, Florida for Atlantis and finally California for Endeavour. Got to convince Mrs Beekler of course.

Outside of that a trip to Kazakhstan to watch a Soyuz launch and fingers crossed back to the Kennedy Space Center in a few years to watch US astronauts fly again on whatever vehicle emerges from the present mess.

Rubecula

I wish you a lot of luck with that then mate. Whatever comes next I bet it is awesome.

ps200306

Fabulous Beeker, very evocative for me! Like you I got hooked on the space program in the 70s, with Viking. I awaited the first shuttle launch with great anticipation. I had my own shuttle scrap books and got lots of NASA material via the kind folks at the US Embassy who I wrote to.

I was there at Cape Canaveral for STS-34 which launched the Galileo probe to Jupiter. Your description brings back that brilliant light and the raggedy roar coming across the water ... nothing sounds quite like it.

This Friday's final launch will certainly be the end of an era for those of us who watched that first launch as young teenagers.

Beeker

ps200306 wrote: »

Fabulous Beeker, very evocative for me! Like you I got hooked on the space program in the 70s, with Viking. I awaited the first shuttle launch with great anticipation. I had my own shuttle scrap books and got lots of NASA material via the kind folks at the US Embassy who I wrote to.

I was there at Cape Canaveral for STS-34 which launched the Galileo probe to Jupiter. Your description brings back that brilliant light and the raggedy roar coming across the water ... nothing sounds quite like it.

This Friday's final launch will certainly be the end of an era for those of us who watched that first launch as young teenagers.

A sad day indeed for lots of people, the end of a unique era.:(