Last Shuttle Launch

[diankra]

I'll just jump in a helicopter and fly around the launch pad till she takes off.

They let you do that... right?

I'm guessing there's an exclusion zone for boats too?

Oh yes. Launches have been postponed because boats have breached it.
While recycling a launch costs loads, it's still cheaper than fighting the lawsuit from the relatives of shouldn't-be-there sailors who got squashed by an SRB casing as it splashes down.

 

[JustAFriend]

I'll just jump in a helicopter and fly around the launch pad till she takes off.

They let you do that... right?

I'm guessing there's an exclusion zone for boats too?

You don't want to even TRY flying over Canaveral during a launch.

The fighter jocks carry live ammo during a launch...

 

[sojourner]

^nice image!

 

[Marc]

linked on Slashdot today - video of the final Shuttle external tank being raised for inspection.

http://www.motherboard.tv/2010/10/6/lifting-up-the-last-space-shuttle-fuel-tank-video

 

[RapidNadion]

^ Yeah - that's been giving me a head-scratching epidemic. All this talk of "last ET" and "last VAB assembly" and so forth -- now that 135 is supposedly going to happen, have they placed an order for another ET and for another refurb session for the SRBs? Or are those contingency elements already prepared?

 

[sojourner]

That tank is for 135.