STS-134 Lift off!!
While we were in Florida for the first attempt at the launch of STS-134, we actually thought we might catch the next attempt as they'd tentatively scheduled it for a few days later. Eventually it became clear that the problem with the fuel heater was going to take a bit longer than 2 days to repair. So we went home. We watched the news on NASA's website and observed all the live broadcasts on NASA TV and when the date was finally set for the second attempt, it fit perfectly into Adam's work schedule and we did a major whirlwind trip back to Florida! Our second trip there within a 2 week span!
We took a red-eye flight from Calgary to Toronto where we met up with Adam's parents, then hopped on another plane for the flight down to Orlando. We arrived in the afternoon, picked up our rental vehicle and made our way to the condo we'd booked into, which ended up being fabulous and WAY cheaper than the first place we'd stayed in!
The girls wasted no time before slipping into their swimsuits and heading to the pool for a cooling swim, much needed in the endless heat and humidity of Florida.
The next day we prepared ourselves for a long night at the Kennedy Space Center. We drove to our pick up spot at 11pm and climbed aboard one of the many buses waiting there for the passengers about to partake in the experience of a lifetime!! Once we were all settled in our seats and on our way with our eyelids getting a bit heavy from the timing of everything, we breathed a sigh of relief and then.....our bus broke down. Luckily, we were extremely close to the head office of our tour company and only 3 minutes from our pickup spot. A mechanic came and within 1/2 an hour we were loaded onto a new bus for the journey.
Once we arrived at Kennedy Space Center, we did a lot of sitting and waiting. First on the bus, then inside the Space Center. We brought our own lawn chairs which came in handy for the 3am wait in the line up to re-board our bus which would bring us to the Causeway from where we would view the launch. NASA and Kennedy Space Center do a lot of behind the scenes coordinating and authorizing groups of people to move from one spot to another. Hence, the long waits in the long line-ups.
This is a platform for viewing a retired space shuttle.
We took part in the Shuttle Launch Experience, which was crazy and fascinating all at the same time! It simulates what the astronauts go through in prep for a launch and what they feel during the launch. Obviously we weren't pulling as many g's as the astronauts do, but we were shaken and tossed around in our seats!! Very neat thing to do!
It was amazing to see people meandering around the KSC grounds in the middle of the night and some asleep wherever they could find a spot. There were food vendors open and the coffee was hot!
The first time we visited the complex, we had our picture taken together and decided to purchase a CD with our photo as well as 20 other space images provided by KSC. When we arrived home and put the CD into our computer, we found a completely different family's photo! We tried to remedy the situation by phone to no avail. So when we returned, we headed to the photo booth to see about getting our photo put onto a CD, but were told it was too late as they only keep images for a certain amount of time before deleting them, as it would plug up the whole system if they had to retain so many images. We resorted to just asking for a refund for the money we paid for the dud CD until someone behind the counter suggested we pose for a new photo which they would print and give us for free!! (We did have printed copies of the photo we had taken the first time around, so it wasn't necessary to have the CD in the long run.) So there we were at 4am lying in various positions in front of a green screen to get the perfect image. Grandma was a great sport.....
...and so was Grandpa!
The final product! Our Zero Gravity picture!! It was a lot of fun and we never would have guessed that we'd be doing that at 4am! Ha!
After the fun photo shoot, we decided to make our way to the long line up and settle ourselves in for a bit before we could make our way back onto the buses to head out to the Causeway. Here is Calli looking at our funny picture.
Adam and his Dad, with Marin making sure things are alright on the sidelines.
And then the silliness ensued....Marin with licorice Nibs as vampire teeth!
We finally got through the endless long line and back onto our bus for the 20 minute journey out to the Causeway where we would watch the sun come up and eventually watch the launch from! During the first attempt at the launch 2 weeks prior, we were on the bus on our way out to the Causeway when we were told that it had been scrubbed. So we were a bit nervous during the ride out there!
Crowds of people setting up prime viewing spots before the sun even made an appearance!
We saw so many tripods and cameras and telescopes set up all over the place. There were food vendors, port-a-potties, loud speakers, generators and merchandise vendors set up along the Causeway as well.
Marin and Calli finally tuckered themselves out and had a bit of a snooze while we waited. Luckily we brought blankets and sweaters for the night/morning as it was a bit chilly out there! (The kind gentleman in the red shirt had a big powerful telescope set up and allowed all of us to have a peek at the shuttle sitting out on the launch pad!! It was awesome!
Finally the sun came out and took the chill out of the air.
My gorgeous husband with the morning sun beaming on him and the shuttle in the background.
This was close to launch time when they started moving all the supporting brackets out of the way to ensure a smooth lift off!!
The excitement was building when we could see the shuttle was clear from it's supports and ready to go!
And finally......!!!!!
It was bigger and brighter and more magnificent that we had EVER imagined!! With the reflection of the flames on the water and the noise it generated and the excitement of the crowd, it was all I could do not to burst into tears!
Unfortunately, there was a low cloud ceiling and the shuttle disappeared once it passed through them, but we had one last glimpse of it in a tiny break in the clouds as it made it's way towards space!
Adam captured this video on his cell phone. You will notice the crowd get excited again once they see the last glimpse of the shuttle on it's way up through the clouds!
Calli, Adam, Marin and I after witnessing the spectacular launch!
Byron and Joanne with the plume of smoke in the background, just after the launch.
We boarded our bus shortly after the launch and made our way back to Orlando, snoozing all the way home. We decided to have a nice relaxing day and the girls spent most of their time in the pool! Here is Calli doing some trick jumping!
There she goes....
...and she's gone. Haha! They had SO much fun this afternoon.
And there goes Marin! She started out with her water wings on, but by the end of the afternoon, she was jumping in without them.
There she goes...
And when she popped back up, she would giggle and giggle and do it all over again.
It was the experience of a lifetime. The last launch of Endeavour. Adam tracked it while it was in space during it's mission and woke up very early one night to watch it land. Something we will never forget....
We took a red-eye flight from Calgary to Toronto where we met up with Adam's parents, then hopped on another plane for the flight down to Orlando. We arrived in the afternoon, picked up our rental vehicle and made our way to the condo we'd booked into, which ended up being fabulous and WAY cheaper than the first place we'd stayed in!
The girls wasted no time before slipping into their swimsuits and heading to the pool for a cooling swim, much needed in the endless heat and humidity of Florida.
The next day we prepared ourselves for a long night at the Kennedy Space Center. We drove to our pick up spot at 11pm and climbed aboard one of the many buses waiting there for the passengers about to partake in the experience of a lifetime!! Once we were all settled in our seats and on our way with our eyelids getting a bit heavy from the timing of everything, we breathed a sigh of relief and then.....our bus broke down. Luckily, we were extremely close to the head office of our tour company and only 3 minutes from our pickup spot. A mechanic came and within 1/2 an hour we were loaded onto a new bus for the journey.
Once we arrived at Kennedy Space Center, we did a lot of sitting and waiting. First on the bus, then inside the Space Center. We brought our own lawn chairs which came in handy for the 3am wait in the line up to re-board our bus which would bring us to the Causeway from where we would view the launch. NASA and Kennedy Space Center do a lot of behind the scenes coordinating and authorizing groups of people to move from one spot to another. Hence, the long waits in the long line-ups.
We got to view the Kennedy Space Center and the retired rockets in the middle of the night which gave a cool, eerie feeling to the whole experience.
This is a platform for viewing a retired space shuttle.
We took part in the Shuttle Launch Experience, which was crazy and fascinating all at the same time! It simulates what the astronauts go through in prep for a launch and what they feel during the launch. Obviously we weren't pulling as many g's as the astronauts do, but we were shaken and tossed around in our seats!! Very neat thing to do!
It was amazing to see people meandering around the KSC grounds in the middle of the night and some asleep wherever they could find a spot. There were food vendors open and the coffee was hot!
The first time we visited the complex, we had our picture taken together and decided to purchase a CD with our photo as well as 20 other space images provided by KSC. When we arrived home and put the CD into our computer, we found a completely different family's photo! We tried to remedy the situation by phone to no avail. So when we returned, we headed to the photo booth to see about getting our photo put onto a CD, but were told it was too late as they only keep images for a certain amount of time before deleting them, as it would plug up the whole system if they had to retain so many images. We resorted to just asking for a refund for the money we paid for the dud CD until someone behind the counter suggested we pose for a new photo which they would print and give us for free!! (We did have printed copies of the photo we had taken the first time around, so it wasn't necessary to have the CD in the long run.) So there we were at 4am lying in various positions in front of a green screen to get the perfect image. Grandma was a great sport.....
...and so was Grandpa!
The final product! Our Zero Gravity picture!! It was a lot of fun and we never would have guessed that we'd be doing that at 4am! Ha!
After the fun photo shoot, we decided to make our way to the long line up and settle ourselves in for a bit before we could make our way back onto the buses to head out to the Causeway. Here is Calli looking at our funny picture.
Adam and his Dad, with Marin making sure things are alright on the sidelines.
And then the silliness ensued....Marin with licorice Nibs as vampire teeth!
Adam had to give it a try too!
We finally got through the endless long line and back onto our bus for the 20 minute journey out to the Causeway where we would watch the sun come up and eventually watch the launch from! During the first attempt at the launch 2 weeks prior, we were on the bus on our way out to the Causeway when we were told that it had been scrubbed. So we were a bit nervous during the ride out there!
Here was our first view of the shuttle on the launch pad, lit up for viewing.
Crowds of people setting up prime viewing spots before the sun even made an appearance!
We saw so many tripods and cameras and telescopes set up all over the place. There were food vendors, port-a-potties, loud speakers, generators and merchandise vendors set up along the Causeway as well.
Marin and Calli finally tuckered themselves out and had a bit of a snooze while we waited. Luckily we brought blankets and sweaters for the night/morning as it was a bit chilly out there! (The kind gentleman in the red shirt had a big powerful telescope set up and allowed all of us to have a peek at the shuttle sitting out on the launch pad!! It was awesome!
Finally the sun came out and took the chill out of the air.
My gorgeous husband with the morning sun beaming on him and the shuttle in the background.
This was close to launch time when they started moving all the supporting brackets out of the way to ensure a smooth lift off!!
The excitement was building when we could see the shuttle was clear from it's supports and ready to go!
And finally......!!!!!
It was bigger and brighter and more magnificent that we had EVER imagined!! With the reflection of the flames on the water and the noise it generated and the excitement of the crowd, it was all I could do not to burst into tears!
Unfortunately, there was a low cloud ceiling and the shuttle disappeared once it passed through them, but we had one last glimpse of it in a tiny break in the clouds as it made it's way towards space!
Adam captured this video on his cell phone. You will notice the crowd get excited again once they see the last glimpse of the shuttle on it's way up through the clouds!
Calli and Adam with the plume of smoke in the background!
Calli, Adam, Marin and I after witnessing the spectacular launch!
Byron and Joanne with the plume of smoke in the background, just after the launch.
We boarded our bus shortly after the launch and made our way back to Orlando, snoozing all the way home. We decided to have a nice relaxing day and the girls spent most of their time in the pool! Here is Calli doing some trick jumping!
There she goes....
...and she's gone. Haha! They had SO much fun this afternoon.
And there goes Marin! She started out with her water wings on, but by the end of the afternoon, she was jumping in without them.
There she goes...
And when she popped back up, she would giggle and giggle and do it all over again.
It was the experience of a lifetime. The last launch of Endeavour. Adam tracked it while it was in space during it's mission and woke up very early one night to watch it land. Something we will never forget....
Comments
You are looking mighty slim bean! What's your secret?
love you! Sooz