![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
On Friday, I was in Titusville, Florida, where I got to see Atlantis launch on STS-132, and seeing her go up is one of the most amazing things I've ever experienced.
I've seen dozens of launches on TV, of course, but because of the way coverage is shot, you don't really get an appreciation of how darn fast this thing goes. Those engines light off, and the orange-yellow flame from the SRBs is glaringly bright, even in central Florida afternoon sunlight, and there's a trail of smoke and this thing is MOVING. After a few seconds, the sound comes rolling in, and while it's not the loudest thing ever (thanks, B-1 and B-52 flybys at Fort Campbell), it goes and goes forever.
The sheer energy involved here is astounding. From our vantage point, we could see the cessation of the SRB firing, and once the Orbiter and ET were clear of the smoke plume, I could still make out the point of light from the Orbiter's main engines firing - and at that point, she's something like 30 miles high and still climbing.
Every report indicates that it was a flawless launch - and up until just a few minutes before she went up, there was discussion among managers of a day-long delay because of a loosened component in the cargo bay.
This is the final scheduled flight for Atlantis. After she comes home (on the 26th or so), she'll be processed for a Launch-On-Need (rescue) mission for Endeavour's November flight. There's a slim chance she'll go up in 2011 as the very last STS flight, but that'll require extra budgeting and a host of other considerations.
STS is the only manned US program I've known - I was too young to follow the last Apollo missions (including Skylab and the ASTP). Shuttle's not perfect, but some great work has been done with the system - Hubble, interplanetary probes, ISS construction, much more. I'm going to miss her, especially since it'll be years before a follow-up program is ready. I know that Orion/Ares, if it survives, is going to be built using the lessons of STS, but going to another big dumb booster and ballistic capsule design rather than a second-generation spaceplane still feels like a step backwards.
I've seen dozens of launches on TV, of course, but because of the way coverage is shot, you don't really get an appreciation of how darn fast this thing goes. Those engines light off, and the orange-yellow flame from the SRBs is glaringly bright, even in central Florida afternoon sunlight, and there's a trail of smoke and this thing is MOVING. After a few seconds, the sound comes rolling in, and while it's not the loudest thing ever (thanks, B-1 and B-52 flybys at Fort Campbell), it goes and goes forever.
The sheer energy involved here is astounding. From our vantage point, we could see the cessation of the SRB firing, and once the Orbiter and ET were clear of the smoke plume, I could still make out the point of light from the Orbiter's main engines firing - and at that point, she's something like 30 miles high and still climbing.
Every report indicates that it was a flawless launch - and up until just a few minutes before she went up, there was discussion among managers of a day-long delay because of a loosened component in the cargo bay.
This is the final scheduled flight for Atlantis. After she comes home (on the 26th or so), she'll be processed for a Launch-On-Need (rescue) mission for Endeavour's November flight. There's a slim chance she'll go up in 2011 as the very last STS flight, but that'll require extra budgeting and a host of other considerations.
STS is the only manned US program I've known - I was too young to follow the last Apollo missions (including Skylab and the ASTP). Shuttle's not perfect, but some great work has been done with the system - Hubble, interplanetary probes, ISS construction, much more. I'm going to miss her, especially since it'll be years before a follow-up program is ready. I know that Orion/Ares, if it survives, is going to be built using the lessons of STS, but going to another big dumb booster and ballistic capsule design rather than a second-generation spaceplane still feels like a step backwards.
