h52y@vax5.CCS.CORNELL.EDU (10/04/88)
Well, she's down, and quite nicely. Nice to have a mission that went well without any major glitches. Anybody think STS-27 will go as well in November? Tim Lynch BITNET: H52Y@CRNLVAX5 INTERNET: H52Y@VAX5.CCS.CORNELL.EDU UUCP: ...!rochester!cornell!vax5.ccs.cornell.edu!h52y Joy is in the ears that hear.
rfisk@bnrmtv.UUCP (Rick Fisk) (03/21/89)
Shuttle Landing Brian Nick and Rick's Excellent Adventure 10:30 pm pst: We (Brian Nick and Rick) pile into my extremely lowered 79 Chevy Stepside pickup and head to Edwards. We are Semi-prepared for this trip. We all have an assortment of cameras, binoc's and a football to pass the time. I found out later that a heavy jacket would have been a good item to bring along. 11:30 We pull into the chevron where 152 is about to meet 5. Gas and soda and physical relief. We tape a man on the camcorder who is saying that he has just come from L.A. He tells us traffic is hell and that it's about 4 1/2 hours more to Edwards. 1:10 am pst: It's about 2 miles past Harris Ranch on 5, I need some cofee. I decide it's time to get a map. I ask the man at the counter how much farther he thinks it is to Edwards. He says 4 1/2 hours. It's obvious that he doesn't know what he's talking about. Nick and I just smile and look at the map. We dicide that we'll take 119 at Pumpkin center to 223 to 58 to 14. No problem what was that again? 3:00 We stop at Weed Patch and get a couple of pepsi's. The man at the counter says its 4 1/2 more hours to Edwards. Great. 4:20 The North Edwards Gate is open only to those with a NASA pass. Were supposed to go about Eight miles more to Twenty Mule Team Road. "But we're Friends of Dan Quayle." I say to the guard. An unknown voice in the guard house says, "Dan Quale Sucks!" So much for that approach. 4:45 Incredible! We are all blown away at how well the whole east side here is organized. There are plenty of military personell just directing parking. Most of the people are asleep in the rows of vehicles by the fence. We grab our cameras and decide to just check out where the best view will be. At the fence there are maybe ten people just waiting. We can see across the lake bed to the hangers and aircraft. A couple of t-38's are taking off and we see the transport 747 parked. 5:00 We decide to grab the sleeping bags and tripods and save ourselves a spot at the fence. I'm very surprised that not many people are at the fence yet. Winchels has a booth but there are way too many people in line. I guess that there have to be around 500,000 people here. It's amazingly cold. 5:30 There is a Sabrejet making a practice approach to the lakebed and we believe that the shuttle will be traveling along the same path. Someone asks me when the shuttle will be arriving and Brian says, 4 1/2 hours. My stomach hurts. 6:00 There are about 4 rows of people at the fence now. The sun has come out and the long shadows of the crowd look eery. A hughey helicopter is patroling the fence. No-one has a radio around us but we know that the shuttle must be close to entering the atmosphere. 6:15 The calm. The hughey is history and it is very quiet we're all waiting for two sonic booms. 6:33 boom BOOM! "There it is!" "Wow that looks sort of like...." Discovery comes into sight after the noise but we were convinced later that we probably would have seen it with sharper eyes before the thunder. Caught it all on the camcorder. When the shuttle touches down there is a roar from the crowd. What a Rush! Rick Fisk Bell Northern Research (415) 940-2268
thomas@mvac.UUCP (Thomas Lapp) (03/23/89)
Thanks for the story Rick. Maybe someday, I'll be able to see one end or the
other of a shuttle mission... In the meantime, your description will have
to do.
- tom
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Internet: mvac!thomas@udel.edu ! excess bits, it throws them under
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! floors in computer rooms...)
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