05.17.11

Alligator and Space Shuttle Endeavour Photo

Posted in Astronomy, Space Shuttle at 7:01 pm by Rebekah

I took a photo on Sunday of the space shuttle (as we were leaving the pad area from the RSS retraction), and noticed a couple of alligators in the water in the foreground. There was a large one (some 6 feet or larger) and a small one (maybe a couple feet long). They were only barely noticeable, and you can just about see the head of the longer one in the bottom left of the picture (looks almost like a log).

Click to enlarge!

Maybe that’s why we were supposed to stay in the bus as we briefly stopped around here for photos… 😉

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Leaving Florida Tomorrow Morning

Posted in Traveling at 6:55 pm by Rebekah

Today I watch the sun rise over Daytona Beach, and then had breakfast at an all-you-can-eat pancake restaurant (Old Spanish Sugar Mill). You grill your own pancakes! They were very good, and I had blueberries in mine. 🙂 That was in De Leon Springs State Park.

I walked around the park a little bit, and then later went back to Daytona for an “all-access” tour of Daytona International Speedway. I’m not into NASCAR, but I was still quite impressed. Our tour guide drove our tram all the way around the 2.5-mile track, and we even got to stop and walk up the steeply-sloped track at the start/finish line. We stopped at pit road and walked through victory lane, and got a tour of everything in the infield (which is very large!). We saw a few race cars in garages in the infield as well. Finally we went up the Sprint Tower to the press box, from which we had a great view of the racetrack and part of Daytona. We could even see the Atlantic Ocean in the distance, as well as Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, 18 miles away!

I took a lot of photos, and not to sound like a broken record lately, but I will post some later (might even be a couple months ’til things slow down a bit more, but hopefully not that long!). 🙂

I fly out of Orlando early tomorrow morning. Once again I had a great time. The previous trip felt more like a vacation, as it was longer, I saw more stuff, and I wasn’t getting up before the sun every day. But this trip was more closely centered around the RSS retraction and ultimately the launch, which was absolutely fantastic!!!

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05.16.11

Endeavour Launch Video

Posted in Astronomy, Space Shuttle at 8:15 pm by Rebekah

I uploaded my HD video of the space shuttle launch to YouTube (link below). Crazy to think the guys we waved to in the astrovan early this morning are now orbiting the earth!!

Space Shuttle Endeavour Launch

Afterwards I checked out the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (we got free tickets), which was pretty awesome (LOVED the space shuttle launch simulator!!).

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who made my dream come true.

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Endeavour Launch

Posted in Astronomy, Space Shuttle at 8:52 am by Rebekah

WOW. The STUNNING view. The DEAFENING crackle and pop and ROAR. The RUMBLE through my body. ABSOLUTELY FANTASTICALLY INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!! I started crying at just under a minute to launch, and then I really cried through the launch! It was a very emotional experience, one which I shall carry with me forever.

More on this later, including more photos and video, but I shall post a couple of my favorites for now. I’m hanging out around the press site for a while now, just waiting for traffic to thin out a bit.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Space Shuttle Endeavour on her final mission, STS134

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05.15.11

Endeavour RSS Retraction Photos

Posted in Astronomy, Space Shuttle at 2:23 pm by Rebekah

Viewed the rollback of the Rotating Service Structure today, from a few hundred yards from space shuttle Endeavour.

Words cannot express how INCREDIBLE the experience of standing so close to the pad was. So without further ado, I’ll let a few of my photos do the talking!

Be sure to CLICK TO ENLARGE!