Tis The End Of An Era, God Speed!

[Future Raptor Ace]

Today marks the end of an era!
At 11:26am this morning (if the weather holds up), THE MOST complex machine ever built by mankind will make her last venture to the final frontier. The space shuttle was conceived during the end of the Apollo program to offer a cheaper and more efficient solution to low earth orbit exploration. Her three main engines combined with her two Solid Rocket Boosters give her over 7 million pounds of thrust, one of the greatest thrust to weight ratios of any spacecraft ever built. Able to launch into space, complete her mission, come home, and then do it all over again was something inconceivable in the years prior to her existence. Her journey ends with the near completion of the International Space Station, her legacy sure to last for many years to come as humans venture further into space. With her successor not yet known, what exactly America’s future in space will be is now an uncertainty, a drastic contrast to that of what represented the Space Shuttle and her capabilities. She has had 134 missions/ 135 tomorrow with only 2 failures in 30 years of service, a reliability ratio that of legend for a machine of her complexity. Tomorrow marks the start of her last ever flight before she is retired and set to rest in aerospace museums around the country.
God Speed Atlantis STS-135, God Speed!~
By FRA~

[Azhiri]

My dad told me about this! Oh, how far we've come...

[Future Raptor Ace]

Originally Posted by Azhiri

My dad told me about this! Oh, how far we've come...

I know right, it is both scary and sad! Im going to miss this bird so much .... though dont tell her I like the Saturn V better
But its just something you dont expect to see go in near future and then boom tomorrow is here today! Lets just hope the weather forecast for tomorrow is wrong, though you can never predict Florida weather.

[user472884]

Originally Posted by Future Raptor Ace

give her over 7 million pounds of thrust,

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I remember watching a shuttle launch on the nasa channel when I was a youngin and thinking it was the coolest thing I had ever seen, but then I was really disappointed when I spent three hours staring into the Southern California sky trying to look for it.

[Future Raptor Ace]

Originally Posted by Jalen

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I remember watching a shuttle launch on the nasa channel when I was a youngin and thinking it was the coolest thing I had ever seen, but then I was really disappointed when I spent three hours staring into the Southern California sky trying to look for it.

lol Michael Scott FTW!
It was only a little over an hour ago when she launched and she is already over Australia!
You sometimes can see it if the lighting is right as well as if you are in the right place for its trajectory. It will fly over southern cali in 15min I think and then over new york in 30min to complete her first orbit. I think it was kool that it took 10min for her to go from Florida to New York!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/0...ec1_lnk2|76599

[user472884]

Originally Posted by Future Raptor Ace

It will fly over southern California in 15min

I must say I appreciate you taking the time to spell "California" in it's entirety as that is its name, rather than one of those people who half-ass it as "cali" in effort to try to look cool and hip and who I one day plot to kill in a very well-orchestrated mass strangling.

[lefty12357]

A quote from Neil Tyson today on Twitter:
"Many lament the shuttle era's end. But that's misplaced sentiment. Lament instead the absence of an era to replace it."

He had a lot more to say about too. I agree with him.

[Plaz]

Originally Posted by Jalen

I must say I appreciate you taking the time to spell "California" in it's entirety as that is its name, rather than one of those people who half-ass it as "cali" in effort to try to look cool and hip and who I one day plot to kill in a very well-orchestrated mass strangling.

what about the people actually from cali who say it :P

[user472884]

Originally Posted by Plaz

what about the people actually from cali who say it :P

They're not actually from California. They're fucking posers.

[Azhiri]

Hipster much?

"The word 'Cali' is too mainstream fuck anyone who says it bawwww"