I think they can be forgiven for the speechifying.
Do I understand this correctly? Somebody said "no go" on account of the weather, but was overridden?
I think so. I heard someone saying they still had good visibility on one runway, so they were OK.
The Space Shuttle launches one final time today
- Thread starter watermelony2k
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I think so. I heard someone saying they still had good visibility on one runway, so they were OK.
When I was a kid, one of my favourite toys was a shuttle with opening payload doors. Well, it was one of my favourite toys until one of the doors fell off. 
Anyway, I've grown up with the shuttle program, so it's hard to believe that this is going to be the last launch.
Anyway, I've grown up with the shuttle program, so it's hard to believe that this is going to be the last launch.
Good to see that the BBC News channel is broadcasting the NASA TV feed live.
When I was a kid, one of my favourite toys was a shuttle with opening payload doors. Well, it was one of my favourite toys until one of the doors fell off.
Anyway, I've grown up with the shuttle program, so it's hard to believe that this is going to be the last launch.
I remember the first launch. I think I still have some newspaper articles somewhere that I saved. The slide into geezerhood continues...
I also had a toy shuttle: a die cast Moonraker about the size of a Hot Wheels car.
I started watching just in time to see the lift-off. That was cool.
I did too. What are they replacing the space shuttle with, or if they are at all. Hope this isn't the end of the space program
Private industry such as SpaceX will be taking over the mundane hops to LEO, as soon as their tech passes human-rating tests. Probably in a year or two. Until then, we'll be renting time on Russian rockets to get to the ISS.
Meanwhile, NASA will focus its attention on figure out how to do stuff that we haven't done before. Something they've been slacking on for a while now.
Great stuff. 
That was incredible.
I started watching just in time to see the lift-off. That was cool.
I did too. What are they replacing the space shuttle with, or if they are at all. Hope this isn't the end of the space program
Private industry such as SpaceX will be taking over the mundane hops to LEO, as soon as their tech passes human-rating tests. Probably in a year or two. Until then, we'll be renting time on Russian rockets to get to the ISS.
Meanwhile, NASA will focus its attention on figure out how to do stuff that we haven't done before. Something they've been slacking on for a while now.
Not to mention that American astronauts will continue to regularly fly into space with the Soyuz every few months. I hope national pride can bear this.
And it's still better than the hiatus between 1975 and 1981. From an astronaut's point of view anyway.
I started watching just in time to see the lift-off. That was cool.
I did too. What are they replacing the space shuttle with, or if they are at all. Hope this isn't the end of the space program
Meanwhile, NASA will focus its attention on figure out how to do stuff that we haven't done before. Something they've been slacking on for a while now.
Like actually going to Mars instead of sending Rovers? I know the country doesn't have the money for it, but it would be nice to actually expand the space program beyond just going up to the ISS and back. It's just not what it used to be I guess.
The thing for me is that the shuttle has always been there, from my perspective, and it represented the space program. Sure, the Russians had Soyuz, but nobody cared about that.
It's just a pity that the Shuttle program is being retired and not being replaced by anything iconic.Similar threads
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