Space Shuttle Memories

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wheatgrinder

Share your space shuttle memories here.
Today one of the space shuttles did a DC fly by. On its way to a museum where it will replace Enterprise (prototype that never went to space)

My memory is Lancaster Ca, 1976. Grade school trip to see Enterprise roll down the road.

I was there.

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I love the space program. It's so sad the way it's been gutted, and the way it seems that science and exploration have lost their popularity in our culture. I'm hoping the pendulum will swing back though, one of these days.

I don't have any particular memories of launches or anything, but I did have a toy space shuttle that I loved playing with as a kid.

ps: that thing is frickin' huge! Cool pic :)
 
Never got to see one launch. Was down in Florida and was hoping to catch one, but weather postponed it. Made me sad, but the Kennedy Space Center was awesome enough that it made up for it.

Leaving aside Challenger memories, my favorite was in grade school we were encouraged to write a letter to an organization (government or corporate) asking for information about what they do. This was 83-84ish. I wrote to NASA like a good little geek. I was expecting a letter, maybe a photo in return. Instead I got a 9x12 envelope packed to the gills...a dozen 8x11 glossy photos, some mission description documents, some historical documents, stickers, a sew-on patch and all sorts of things that I can't remember.

I was interested in space before. I've LOVED space ever since.

Good run for the shuttle, can't wait to see what comes next. And, hey, SpaceX has the first commercial run to the ISS later this month. Onwards and upwards!
 
Lucky dog, getting to see one in the flesh (as it were)!

Most vivid memory is, of course, the morning of January 28, 1986. Watching the launch on my parent's TV, getting ready to go to my college class. :( Never will forget it.
 
Way back when, I had this wallpaper mural in my basement bedroom. This isn't an actual pic of my bedroom, but had one just like it.

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* and that's about as close I ever got to the real thing :rolleyes:
 
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I remember the day of the Challenger disaster the school brought a TV into the lunch room so we could see what was happening. It was the mid 80s and the space program was a source of inspiration for us all. It still wasn't quite a day to day reality and had all of the wonder associated with it that had inspired the generation before us with the apollo program.

The 60s were seeking the moon, the 80s was seeking a space based research platform... the shuttles were the stepping stone into the Skylab/ISS/MIR type of orbital stations we now fail to marvel at every day. The movement forward from that disaster helped reshape the public perception about the space program, and what could possibly drive people to risk their lives for the sake of exploration in this day and age. It was a horrible moment and a great remotivator.
 
I can remember my parents opening up the sleeper sofa and, with my sister and I, waiting for the first moon-walk.
They woke us up so we could see it. I was a space geek ever since, and I can trace my love of sci-fi to that.

Quite a few years later the band I was in learned Bowies "Space Oddity" to celebrate the first shuttle launch (Columbia).
 
knightly said:
I remember the day of the Challenger disaster the school brought a TV into the lunch room so we could see what was happening. It was the mid 80s and the space program was a source of inspiration for us all. It still wasn't quite a day to day reality and had all of the wonder associated with it that had inspired the generation before us with the apollo program.

The 60s were seeking the moon, the 80s was seeking a space based research platform... the shuttles were the stepping stone into the Skylab/ISS/MIR type of orbital stations we now fail to marvel at every day. The movement forward from that disaster helped reshape the public perception about the space program, and what could possibly drive people to risk their lives for the sake of exploration in this day and age. It was a horrible moment and a great remotivator.
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I was in grade school when it happened. We watched it on tv too. Sad day.

Am I the only one that thinks we should have UFOs by now and be traveling space. Man our technology in traveling space has grown very slowly compared to our growth in computer technology. Maybe we can use the crashed UFOs and reverse engineer our own. Maybe our government has all ready done that and that is the reason we don't need one for the official space program. Maybe we have a secret space program.

By the way cool pictures Weatgrinder.
 
I can remember my parents opening up the sleeper sofa and, with my sister and I, waiting for the first moon-walk.
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Um, hate to break it to you, but that was all fake. There is scientific proof that Stanley Kubrick filmed it all and the US Government has been covering it up ever since....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7pzg9xpAOE



..... :lol:

No, I kid, I kid. But there are HEAPS of these stupid docos on youtube. Made by potheads, for potheads, I guess. :P

The moon landing must have been amazing to watch, you are so lucky to have that childhood memory. I can't wait 'til we send some people up there again.
India just sent their first rocket headed for Mars the other day I believe. Way to go India!
 
I'm not sure if this really qualifies as a shuttle memory since it involves the shuttle that never was. A number of years ago, I did some contract work for NASA. While there I saw the X37 (now referred to as X37a), which was supposed to replace the shuttle. The X37 was the inspiration for the shuttles Freedom and Independence in the movie Armageddon. In 2004 the military took over the project and it became the X37B, an unmanned orbiter that is much smaller and configured differently from the original craft. Obviously, cameras were not allowed so I have no pictures and have not seen it since the funding was cut and the military took over. I wonder if they scrapped it or if it is sitting in a government facility somewhere.
 
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