After 30 years America’s Space Transportation System or Space Shuttle will be coming to a close. If everything goes as planned, on July 8th, 2011 Space Shuttle Atlantis will lift off from launch pad 39/A one last time signaling an end to an era.

Some people are upset by the change. How could NASA let this happen? How will we send astronauts to our $100 billion dollar space station? We should keep flying the shuttle until we have a replacement! Each space shuttle was designed for 100 flights, after all! We’ve only had less than 1/2 of that per vehicle. Heck, Atlantis will have only flown 33 times by the time we retire the vehicle. That leaves 67 more flights by design.

Others feel the shuttle retirement is long overdue. While it is true that each orbiter was designed to fly 100 missions, it was also designed to fly around 25 times per year. Originally the shuttle program was supposed to have over 100 flights per year with a fleet of 4 vehicles making space much more accessible and inexpensive in the process. That means that the shelf life of a space shuttle is really only around 4 to 5 years, not the 25 that we have been running them at. Because of that some parts are no longer available. Some elements of each orbiter are old and need replacing. It’s time to let them retire before we have another catastrophic accident.

As we watch NASA gear up for the final flight, it is hard to not want to keep the status quo. To keep the orbiters flying. Change is always hard. But the cold harsh reality of the situation is that while the Space Shuttle is beautiful, majestic and an awe of engineering it also never lived up to its promise of inexpensive flight to space. Humanity and more specifically America has been locked to Low Earth Orbit due in no small part because of the space shuttle. Funding required to send humans back to the moon, on to Mars and beyond is tied up in this amazing yet inefficient vehicle.

I’ll be sad to see the fleet retire. Heck, I grew up with the space shuttle. Born in 1978 I never knew Apollo or even saw humans set foot on the moon. And at this stage, over 1/2 the planet shares that experience. It is time to change that. I want to be a part of a generation that doesn’t accept Low Earth Orbit as good enough. I want to be part of a generation that goes out there and conquers space flight to other alien bodies in the sky. I want to explore the moon again. I want to go Mars. I want to go beyond! The shuttle can’t do any of that.

The question now is not if we should retire the shuttle. That is all but set in stone. The parts required to fly the orbiter are no longer available, we simply can’t easily fly it again. Now the question is where do we go from here? This is the tipping point. This is the moment in time where we get to decide our future. Will we pony up and fund amazing projects coming out of SpaceX, Blue Origin, Orbital, Masten Space, Armadillo and other innovative space companies? Or will we return to the status quo and have our elected officials try to force NASA to build yet another unsustainable rocket designed by senators rather than scientists.

This is the point were we can choose positive yet difficult change, or we can choose to go back to Low Earth Orbit and leave the exploration to another generation. I choose change. How about you?

We actually have 4 different shows we produce and with it 4 different sets of graphics. You’re probably most familiar with our two most popular shows, the weekly live show and the SpacePods. But for years now we have also produced launch events such as space shuttle launches as well as the after-show show known now as After Dark.

Back at the beginning of the year I set out to make it very easy to tell when a video was being produced by Spacevidcast. This would help viewers understand where the video was coming from. Is it an official NASA video? It is something community related? Who made this and what is it for? That’s how the simplified lower third graphics came to be. The bug (which is TV term for the shows logo that is always on the screen) had expanded to not just be out blue circle logo, but also have the name of the show and the date always burned on the screen. This may annoy a few people, but years from now when you’re searching archives you’ll very easily be able to tell when a video was produced, what show it was for and what it is about just by looking at the lower left side of the screen. This design did create a challenge though. Unlike in years past I wanted all of the graphics to both look alike as well as give a visual cue as to which show you’re actually watching. Those two things sound like they are diametrically opposing. How can you have graphics that look the same yet convey completely different things? The answer can be found in the FedEx logo.

Ever see a FedEx ground and air truck drive by at the same time? The FedEx logo is almost exactly the same. Same font, same spacing and if you’re not paying attention it would look nearly identical. But the FedEx ground logo is purple and green. The FedEx air logo is purple and red. FedEx critical is purple and blue. In fact there are a bunch of different colored logos that mean different things. The brilliance behind it is that you may not have noticed that each logo is a different color directly, but sub-consciously you know each package was sent a different way based on the color you see. The brand stays the same, the visual impact stays the same, but a simple tweak in the color and you can change the meaning of the logo itself.

FedEx isn’t the only company to do this. When apple switched from the single multi-colored logo to the one color glossy logo they actually switched to a series of one-color glossy logos. A red apple meant AppleCare. A blue apple meant consumer/retail. A grey apple meant corporate/enterprise. And so forth and so on. Apple has grown quite a bit larger over the last few years and with that growth they seem to have dropped the colored logos. But the idea is still brilliant.

Each Spacevidcast show does the same thing as FedEx and Apple. We have a different colored graphic for the bug, or main logo of each show. The graphics themselves are identical, but the colors shift slightly. You can see how each show looks by the graphic below, but the way it works out is: SpacePods are purple to match the open, live shows are yellow to offset the blue of the info graphic, After Dark is black because, well, it’s after dark and live launch coverage is a medium grey color to allow the green, yellow and red status graphics to stand out more so you know what is happening with the launch.

And now you know one of our little secrets that we employ to try and make your life easier. You may not have ever directly noticed the color coding before, but it has probably triggered something in your brain that lets you know exactly what you’re looking at and what you should expect. Some of you may have noticed the colors but not known why we did that or why each color was chosen. The best part is that this is just one insight in to our graphic design. There are a lot of elements that went in to what seem like pretty simple banners: why the logo is placed where it is, why there is a blank bar under the graphic and of course why the graphics are translucent now. Each item was designed, implemented, tweaked, re-implemented, tweaked some more and implemented again.

Hey, every pixel counts!

After decades in service to NASA, Space Shuttle Endeavour embarks on her last flight, STS-134.
As always, Spacevidcast will bring you the best launch coverage and keep you updated throughout the mission. Much more epic content is on it’s way, stay tuned!

To download the content, right click and select “Save as…” (or “Download Linked File As,” or “Save Link As”) and save them to your computer.

Last updated: 2011.05.31 02:59 UTC
20GB of content is on it’s way!

Documents
Anything and everything you want to know about the last mission of Space Shuttle Endeavour.

NASA Press Kit
Space Shuttle Endeavour Fact Sheet
NASA Flight Summary and Info Sheet
NASA TV Schedule (Current as of 2011.05.31 02:59 UTC) (XLS) (PDF)
Remaining Missions Fact Sheet
Shuttle Launch Weather Criteria
Shuttle Launch Wall Chart

Flight Data Files
Everything runs on checklists these days, especially Space Shuttle Missions. Now you can get the same checklists the Astronauts use.

Flight Plan
Ascent Checklist
EVA Checklist
Orbital Operations
PDRS Operations Checklist
Photo & TV Checklist
Post Insertion Checklist
Shuttle/ISS Rendezvous Checklist
Entry Checklist

Execute Packages
The day’s agenda, in space.

Flight Day 2 Execute Package
Flight Day 3 Execute Package
Flight Day 4 Execute Package
Flight Day 5 Execute Package
Flight Day 6 Execute Package
Flight Day 7 Execute Package
Flight Day 8 Execute Package
Flight Day 9 Execute Package
Flight Day 10 Execute Package
Flight Day 11 Execute Package
Flight Day 12 Execute Package
Flight Day 13 Execute Package
Flight Day 14 Execute Package
Flight Day 15 Execute Package
Flight Day 16 Execute Package

Video
Animations and footage from STS-134

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS-02)
AMS NASA Now Minute
Educational Message from Commander Kelly
Crew Countdown Rehersal
Crew Training
Crew Profile
Endeavours Retrospective
Endeavours Final Voyage
Educational Message from Flight Engineer Fuestel
Legacy of Endeavour
Meet the Crew
EVA 3 Overview
EVA 4 Overview
Rollout of the vehicle stack
Scrub Announcement, 29 April 2011
Scrub Explanation, 29 April 2011
Spacewalk (EVA) Training
STORRM
Arrival of the External Tank

Spacevidcast epic only content:
-IMG, AUD, DOC PLACEHOLD

Posters
We can’t have a space flight without some posters, can we?

STS 134 Popup (High Resolution Print, 138.7MB) (Low Resolution Print, 83KB)
STS 134 Poster (High Resolution Print, 88.1MB) (Low Resolution Print, 156KB)

Of course getting to Florida to watch the launch is only 1/2 of the equation. You need to know how and where you can watch the launch from. Here are a few tips to space launch newbies that may help a bit:

• Don’t just expect the shuttle to fly on its first attempt. In many cases weather, technology or even a boat can scrub a launch. If you’re flying to Florida I suggest either buying refundable tickets or if you live in the US then only buy one-way tickets. That way you can stay in Florida until the vehicle actually does launch!
• You don’t need tickets to watch the launch. There are a couple of awesome viewing areas that cost money such as the causeway or KSC visitor center. However, if you don’t already have tickets to these areas, you probably won’t be able to get any. No problem. Nestled in the middle of Titusville there is a great viewing area called Space View Park. You’ll have  a pretty clear shot of the launch 12 miles away from the launch pad. This is free and pretty close viewing, so it will get pretty busy there. Go early.
• The current launch time for Endeavour is just before 9:00am EDT. If you show up when the sun is still down be aware that the mosquitoes will be out en mass. Bring a ton of bug spray!
• Traffic will be insane. Take whatever estimate Google Maps gives you and octuple it. This includes both pre and post launch. It just takes a while to get the 500,000 eager shuttle viewers out of the area.
• The cell towers around Kennedy Space Center will be overloaded with people checking e-mail, twittering and doing all sorts of awesome stuff. Chances are you won’t have a solid data connection prior to launch, so don’t expect to be able to stream the launch or even check your e-mail. If you have access to one, a satellite phone is a good option as a standby device. Think your carrier is the awesome and won’t crash? Think again. I bring Sprint, T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon with me each and every launch. And every launch they all die.

For those who simply can’t get to the launch we will be covering it live right here on Spacevidcast. Since Perforce purchased a new streaming system for us, we are now able to send our an HD, SD and mobile stream all at the same time. No need for you to do anything, just hit our web site on your favorite device be it a computer, iPhone, iPad, Android phone or Roku and we’ll present the launch to you in as high of quality as we can. Additionally we allow you the viewer to Skype in and ask your own questions of our guests live on the show. If you don’t want to be seen/heard you can also tweet your questions using the #SVC hashtag or @spacequestions. If Twitter’s not your thing, you can e-mail us any question you may have to spacequestions@spacevidcast.com. And of course we have our real-time IRC chat room available right next to the live streaming video that you can ask questions in as well. Many, many ways for you to not only view the launch but participate in it as well.

We take a casual and entertaining approach to our launch coverage. We want you to have fun and experience the launch as if you were right there next to us at Kennedy Space Center. Some people prefer a more detailed version of the launch itself without all the chatter. No problem, there are a couple of great resources where you can still get live streaming video of the launch itself.

• NASA offers the official NASA TV HD stream. You can watch this on their website at NASA.gov/ntv
• SpaceFlight Now has some amazing coverage with Miles O’Brien, David Waters and astronaut Leroy Chiao who will bring you a more traditional newscast of the launch itself. They also monitor Twitter and answer some questions on-air.
• On traditional television Fox News Channel typically covers the flight from T-2 minutes and counting through around T+2 minutes or so.
• If you have access to it, HDNet also usually has HD launch coverage of the shuttle flights as well.

So now you have no reason to miss this historic launch. There are many ways to watch it and while we hope you enjoy the launch with us it is more important that you just enjoy it somewhere, somehow! Heading to Florida? Lets see if we can’t all hook up after the flight and party!

*Updated to reflect US Citizenship for one-way plane tickets.

Total size of STS-133 epic content: 20+GB
Last updated: 2011.03.09 03:34 UTC
To download the content, right click and select “Save as…” (or “Download Linked File As,” or “Save Link As”) and save them to your computer.

Documents
Anything and everything you want to know about the last mission of Space Shuttle Discovery.

NASA Press Kit
Space Shuttle Discovery Fact Sheet
NASA Flight Summary and Info Sheet
NASA TV Schedule (Current as of 2011.03.09 03:34 UTC) (XLS) (PDF)
Remaining Missions Fact Sheet

Flight Data Files
Everything runs on checklists these days, especially Space Shuttle Missions. Now you can get the same checklists the Astronauts use.

Flight Plan
Ascent Checklist
EVA Checklist
Orbital Operations
PDRS Operations Checklist
Photo & TV Checklist
Post Insertion Checklist
Shuttle/ISS Rendezvous Checklist
Entry Checklist

Execute Packages
The day’s agenda, in space.

Flight Day 02
Flight Day 03
Flight Day 04
Flight Day 05
Flight Day 06
Flight Day 07
Flight Day 08
Flight Day 09
Flight Day 10
Flight Day 11
Flight Day 12
Flight Day 13

Video
Animations and footage from STS-133

Discovery Heads to the Pad and Into History
STS-133 Crew Sign the Shuttle Tribute Wall
NASA Tribute to Space Shuttle Discovery
Discovery’s Last Ride
Robonaut 2 Readied for Launch
Robonaut 2 Packed for Launch
Robonaut 2 to join Station Crew
STS-133 Robonaut 2 Movie Trailer
Expedition 26 Observes a Moment of Silence for Tuscon Victims
Discovery Retrospective
Shuttle Era: Launch Directors
Covering the Space Shuttle Program
ISS Assembly (with titles)
ISS Assembly (without titles)
Behind the Scenes: Bowen starts STS-133 Training
Behind the Scenes: STS-133 Gets a “Pinch Hitter”
President Obama Speaks with Discovery’s Final Crew

Welcome to Launch Day!
STS-133 Crew Heads to the Pad
STS-133 Astronauts Aboard!
STS-133 Discovery Launch is GO!
Discovery’s Last Launch: A Spectacular Sight
STS-133 Booster Camera Views
Discovery Is In Orbit
Discovery Performs Terminal Initiation Burn
STS-133 Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver
This Week @ NASA: 25 Feb 2011
This Week @ NASA: 01 Mar 2011

Flight Day Recaps
Flight Day 01 Recap
Flight Day 02 Recap
Flight Day 03 Recap
Flight Day 04 Recap
Flight Day 05 Recap
Flight Day 06 Recap
Flight Day 07 Recap
Flight Day 08 Recap
Flight Day 09 Recap
Flight Day 10 Recap
Flight Day 11 Recap
Flight Day 12 Recap

Spacevidcast epic only content:

Documents
STS-133 Space Reporters Handbook (Revision A) (Original Revision)
STS-133 Boeing Notepad
STS-133 SpaceCalc (Mac) (Windows)

Posters
We can’t have a space flight without some posters, can we?

STS 133 Popup (High Resolution Print, 39MB) (Low Resolution Print, 313KB)
STS 133 Poster (High Resolution Print, 597.5MB) (Low Resolution Print, 403KB)

Video
Pre-Mission Briefing Animations

STS-133 Launch from L-28 minutes to MECO without graphics.
STS-133 Launch from L-28 minutes to MECO with the lower third graphics.
Overview: Payload
Overview: EXPRESS Logistics Carrier 4
Overview: Permanent Multi-Purpose Module
FD02: OBSS Scan of Discovery Port Side
FD02: OBSS Port Survey
FD02: OBSS Port OMS Survey
FD02: OBSS Scan of Port OMS
FD02: OBSS Starboard Survey
FD02: OBSS Heat Sheild Survey
FD03: Discovery Approach to Station
FD03: Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver (RBar)
FD03: Discovery Docks to Station
FD03: Unberthing and Install of ELC-4
FD04: Relocation of Mobile Transporter
FD04: OBSS Grapple
FD04: OBSS Unberthing
FD04: OBSS Handoff
FD05: EVA 1 Activities
FD05: Relocation of Mobile Transporter
FD06: Unberthing and Install of PMM
FD06: Late Inspection of OV TPS
FD07: EVA 2 Activities
Discovery Undocks from ISS

Kelly Brothers Interviews (Parts 4-8) coming soon!

Mission Audio
It’s all talk…

Full Air to Ground Loop 24 Jan 2011 (T-1 Day) (zip)
Full Air to Ground Flight Loop Flight Day 1 (zip)
Full Air to Ground Flight Loop Flight Day 2 (zip)
Full Air to Ground Flight Loop Flight Day 3 (zip)
Full Air to Ground Flight Loop for further flight days are coming by mid-mission 134!

Preflight Audio:
Preflight EVA Overview (21 Oct 2010) (wav)
Preflight Mission Overview (21 Oct 2010) (wav)
Preflight Program Overview Briefing (21 Oct 2010) (wav)
Preflight Robotics Overview Briefing (21 Oct 2010) (wav)
Preflight Countdown Status Briefing (22 Feb 2011) (wav)
Flight Day Audio Files
Flight Day 2: Crew Wakeup (mp3) (wav)
Flight Day 2: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 3: Crew Wakeup (mp3)
Flight Day 3: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 4: Crew Wakeup (mp3) (wav)
Flight Day 4: Inflight News Interview (wav)
Flight Day 4: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 5: Crew Wakeup (mp3) (wav)
Flight Day 5: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 6: Crew Wakeup (mp3) (wav)
Flight Day 6: Inflight News Interview (wav)
Flight Day 6: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 7: Crew Wakeup (mp3) (wav)
Flight Day 7: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 8: Inflight News Interview 1 (wav)
Flight Day 8: Inflight News Interview 2 (wav)
Flight Day 8: Mission Status Briefing (wav)
Flight Day 8: Call from President Obama (wav)

The ISS is currently scheduled to be decommissioned in 2016, and this usually would mean a deorbit that would result in the destruction of the station. However there’s a possibility that a commercial company may use it as a staging point, even though it’s at such a steep inclination of 51.6 degrees. Normally, you’d want an inclination to be as shallow as possible for a staging point if you’re going to go out to the moon, Mars, or something else in the ecliptic. It takes a lot of logistics and ground support to keep such a complex machine such as the ISS flying, given how many moving parts, supplies, vital components go into keeping it safe and habitable. With that, if an American commercial space tourism company were to buy the ISS, you’d have to obtain all of the computers and telemetry systems from Russia, or train your employees how to operate them. ISS ground systems are like a big puzzle. For example, the ISS program has computer systems in both Russia and the United States that are required to keep the ISS spaceborne. Without a component of the logistics one country may have, the ISS can’t stay in orbit for long.

Also of note is that we can’t send the ISS outside of the Van Allen Radiation Belts, a protective layer anywhere from about 300 miles and 72,000 miles high They start at high altitude due to the varying magnetic fluctuations, combined with some conditions the atmosphere experiences, because the ISS was never designed to go out that far. The radiation that the belt protects us from could kill anyone on board in a relatively short time.

Written and Researched by Jeph

Click the time table to enlarge. You may download a printable copy here (PDF).

For more information:

NASA’s Science Blog, NASA’s Time Zone page, NASA: December 21 Lunar Eclipse

Problem #1: We could offer mobile streaming to iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android 2.2 devices… most of the time. And, we could provide HD coverage for shuttle launches and our weekly shows. But, we couldn’t provide both. If we wanted to deliver HD then we had to shut down the mobile stream. If we wanted to offer mobile then HD was out. Additionally, whenever we went to HD, the system would get pegged with all 8 cores sitting at 100% usage the whole time. That’s bad. We needed a new solution.

Solution found: Purchase a new 12 core MacPro with insane graphics and capture cards for around $10,000. While this may sound like a lot, in the video realm it isn’t bad. The same system running on Windows would be called a Tricaster TCXD300 and those start at $15,000 for a 3 input HD system. And even then we would have had to spend more like $20,000 to $25,000 to get the Tricaster to do what we wanted. So, $10k to allow us to broadcast beautiful and smooth HD while also broadcasting to mobile devices and TVs all at the same time seemed like a bargain.

Problem #2: We don’t have $10k to drop on a new system!

Step #1 – SSME Ignite. I decided to appeal to the Spacevidcast community. Not only would we get amazing HD streaming of STS-133 but we could also move to full time HD streaming of NASA TV, something we have been unable to do (and, frankly no one else has either).

Step #2 – ATO or RTLS? First I approached Kickstarter for funding and was promptly denied. I was told my project didn’t fit within the realm of what they liked to offer.
Another plan of attack was needed. And, time was running out.

Step #3, MECO! Right before STS-133 was first scheduled to launch, I came up with the ’10K in 10 days’ promotion. We immediately raised over $2,500 in 24 hours. And, before the promotion ended, we had 3 new Spacevidcast founders and a brand new sponsor: Perforce Software.

Those of you who frequent the Spacevidcast chat room have, no doubt, seen Ziggr. He is one of three Spacevidcast founders and is the only person I know who has a Spacevidcast logo permanently tattooed on his body. How awesome is that?

Well, Ziggr works at Perforce and brought the idea of sponsoring the launch in HD to one of their honchos. Being that Perforce builds version control software many of them are geeks, too, who enjoy space. As it turned out, sponsoring an HD rig for the most amazing space shuttle coverage on the face of the planet was an easy sell.

Perforce sponsored the entire HD setup that we’re now using not only for launch events, but also to bring you NASA TV in HD 24×7 and our weekly shows. Spacevidcast live 3.36 will be the first show that uses the new setup, and I think you’ll see an amazing difference in frame rate, stability and quality.

So, that’s how it happened—Spacevidcast in HD.

I personally wanted to thank Perforce Software as well as Ziggr for helping to bring HD quality launch coverage to the masses. Without you guys we wouldn’t be able to do this. And the best part is the equipment will be used every day, even when there is no shuttle launch.

Space isn’t something you want to see in some tiny window. It is large and awe inspiring and now our coverage of space will be the same. Thanks is due, in no small part, to everyone who donated as well as Perforce Software.

It takes a certain kind of company who really ‘gets it’ to turn on a dime (I got the check in 2 days) and sponsor a new media space show.

If you’re an app developer working on iPhone, Android, Windows, Linux, Unix or Mac apps you’ll need version control. Since it is an important part of the development cycle, you’ll want to use software from a company who truly understands you, not just trying to sell you something.

The team over at Perforce shows their commitment to people not just by sponsoring HD launches, but also by giving away their software to small shops and folks who want to try it out. You can get two seats of their version control software for free. That’s not a limited trial or a feature-restricted system, it’s the full-blown product.

As you grow because your app is awesome, Perforce can grow with you. Get version control that works the way you want it to, not the other way around. These are people who are actively trying to make the world better. It was a natural fit between Perforce Software and Spacevidcast.

We are all geeks here at Spacevidcast. We love tech. We love space. And we love it when tech and space come together in new and interesting ways to make humanity just a bit better.

Thank you Perforce for helping us ‘Make Space Commonplace’ and get humanity excited about the stars again.

If you enjoy the HD coverage we bring you and want to show your thanks, check out Perforce at www.perforce.com. Show them it was worth their taking a risk and sponsoring a new space show. If you’re a small development shop there is no risk as the software is free to you. Larger shop? No problem, Perforce is used in major fortune 500 companies as well as a certain space agency that we all love. Yup, Perforce indirectly helps put payloads into space. Show your thanks by checking them out and enjoy our HD coverage of, well, everything

But what about the times when there isn’t? What if you have something to say that is too in depth to post in a chatroom?

We at Spacevidcast have developed a solution. Each week there will be an open thread posted just like this one where you can come and talk about space exploration, Spacevidcast, rocket launches, or anything else related to “making space commonplace”. The comments section, with the comment threading, makes it possible to have a discussion without all participants being in the chatroom at the same time.

This is an experiment, so lets continue it correctly.

Some ground rules
0) This is not a complete listing of all the rules. Additional rules will be enforced as needed.
1) Try to keep the topic vaguely space-related.
2) If there’s a rule about it in the chatroom, there’s a rule about it here. Try to keep the discussion civil.
3) While “what if?” and slightly more fantastic (e.g. Sci-Fi) discussions are acceptable, conspiracy theories will not be tolerated.

Last Week’s discussion: Open Thread: Signal Acquired

This delay makes me about 5 minutes late meeting our first spectacular guest of the day – Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex’s Public Relations Manager, Andrea Farmer. This lady is the best, after knowing her for four years now – I still have no idea where she gets her energy from. She is a whirlwind of excited activity and she and her team have turned the Visitor Complex into one of the ‘must-see’ spots in Central Florida. The interview goes well, but being frazzled by the traffic jam and almost being late I forget to let our viewers know that whoever has asked the most questions in our chatroom – wins a four person general admission ticket to the Visitor Complex, (generously provided by Andrea and Delaware North the operator’s of the Visitor Complex). But Ben catches me before I let Andrea go and all ends well.

I had thought that I would maybe do one or two other interviews during the day – however tech issues cropped up that forced Ben behind the camera and except for Cariann’s interview of NASA PAO Allard Beutel I did the rest. Now here comes the little reveal that may surprise most folks – this was more than fine by me. You see, while a shuttle launch is incredible it is not the main draw for me. I go to participate, to contribute and to be a part of the moment. So the more I have to do, the better. The launch? That is just icing on the cake.

If you watched Spacevidcast’s launch day broadcast almost all of the people that I interviewed are either friends or acquaintances of mine. This makes it so much easier on both of us as we can just sit down and have a chat like we would any other day. Both Ben and Cariann seemed pleased with how this turned out and I will try to keep this formula going for the next two launches.

Within an hour of launch a ball bearing was discovered that could have potentially scrubbed the launch for the day. However, the mission team determined that it was not an issue and the countdown went ahead according to plan. There have been few times when I have not gone down past the countdown clock and watched the launch near the turn basin – with a nice cool tent over my head – this was one of those times. The launch was a spectacular affair that took place under blue skies. Those in attendance were treated to a spectacle that they will be tending their grandchildren about. As the SRBs slipped away and the people at watching the launch meandered back toward the press site it was evident on the faces and in the tears of those present that they had just witnessed history.