6.09.2008

Space Shuttle Discovery: STS-124 Mission

My friend, Ray, was able to get V.I.P. tickets to the Space Shuttle Discover launch for the STS-124 mission at Kennedy Space Center from PAD 39A held on Saturday, May 31st, 2008 at 5:02 p.m. EDT. WHAT A MOUTH FULL!!! We headed over to the Visitor Complex on Friday for a mission briefing and then made our way back out there the following day for the main event.





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Ray was so excited to find the sign to Kennedy Space Center that he launched himself out of his car with a direct hit onto the post.





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We knew we were getting closer when we stumbled upon a space shuttle junk yard.





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All this excitement made us hungry so we stopped over at the Whistle Junction Buffet & Grill.





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Little did we know that everything within a 40 mile radius had the ability to launch at any given moment.





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But Ray was quick to adjust to the situation.





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We made it to the Visitor Complex!





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We were most likely yelling out, "NAASSSSSAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"





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It was quite an honor to meet a broken NASA robot.





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Ray gave the broken NASA robot no respect at all, but who cares it's broken.....




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.....OR SO WE THOUGHT!!!





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Both of us give two very small thumbs for the monster-size NASA sign.





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Apparently Ray has seen prettier rocket gardens before.





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It looks like it's going to be a fine season for rockets.





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And #19 looks plenty ripe!





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Ray should have paid more attention while he walked right into the Rocket Garden fountain.





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I was proud of myself that I found a big one.





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Ray was just getting up from tying his shoe and was surprised to feel the intense heat from an old rocket engine.





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After the blast settled down Ray brought me over to the rocket engine and told me to look inside. Before I knew it the engine kicked on again I started to smell BBQ.





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Ray pretends like he knows what he's doing.





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I pretend like I'm not afraid of the orange space walk thing that's slightly lifted off the ground.





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I was totally walking in slow motion.





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Now it's time to get in this thing.....





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.....and press buttons.





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But Ray wouldn't allow me to have all the fun with the buttons.





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Ray doesn't think there should be fire hydrants growing in the Rocket Garden.





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But I didn't notice because I was so caught up in the moment since rocket gardens make me feel so alive.





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Me, my good friend Xultrar, and Ray stop for a photo op.





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This banner depicts one of the several possibilities NASA believes how the world may come to an end.





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Somehow we ended up in an anti-gravity chamber and were somewhat startled by the bizarre occurrence.





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After exiting the anti-gravity chamber we soon found a trainee inside a personal chamber of it's own, so we teased the astronaut for our own amusement until we were kicked out of the restricted area.





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After getting the boot from security we found another space shuttle parked illegally next to a space trash can.





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I don't know who was setting up the rocket boosters but they didn't do a very good job, so Ray went looking for help while I was getting a good work out.





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Unfortunately, it took Ray a while to find any kind of assistance because he was busy trying to lift a huge marble out of a fountain.





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We boarded yet another space craft and after a while Ray wanted to go back home to Earth.





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I felt his pain because, I too, wanted to go back home to Oeyzin 9.2 and hang out with my good friend Xultrar.





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But alas, both of us did not go back to our home planets just yet and stopped over at Mars. I wasn't sure how I got outside of the space craft and Ray didn't know how to get me back in.





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Then we headed over to Earth's moon for a quick spin around in a genuine NASA moon buggy.





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Ray doesn't understand why I always drive like I'm about to head into combat but he still finds it to be funny.





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Ray takes a Jupiter-A rocket straight back to Earth.....





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......and I hold on to the Jupiter-B rocket.





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On our way back we were pretty sure we saw the Jupiter-C heading in the opposite direction, so Ray had to check out the scoop in an old-timey fashion when we got back.





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The next day we headed back over to Kennedy Space Center to see the Discovery Space Shuttle launch.





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The government spares no expense at notifying civilians about safety.





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According to the sign Ray thinks we need to go up.





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After jumping for about thirty minutes we realized we weren't getting anywhere by going "up." But we did find a shuttle bus that would drive us to a closer observation spot of the other shuttle along with a good view of the Vehicle Assembly Building.





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Here's an even better view!





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The clock was counting down and then stopped at 20 minutes, so we took a picture because it was a notable moment to witness NASA time come to a halt.





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And now we play the waiting game....





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.....but the waiting game was boring so we went into a building with more rockets 'n stuff.





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This is what I should have been wearing when I was on Mars.





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Ray didn't know what this thing was.....





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......so he pushed his face against it as hard as he could.





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I didn't even need to push because it was trying to suck me in.





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Seriously, I didn't know what to do.





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After getting my head out of that hi-tech thing-a-ma-jig we checked out a NASA rover fight off.





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It was pretty ugly.





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After all that excitement from those slow moving rovers Ray was pretty much spent.





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But I woke him up so he could take a picture of me doing a tribute to the cast of Little Miss Sunshine.





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It was almost time for the Space Shuttle Discovery to launch and we found the perfect spot for viewing.





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We were not excited at all.





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Here's the launch pad from about 3 miles away.





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The crowd gathers around for the big show!





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None of us were happy that we had to wait 2 whole minutes....





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.....but people were definitely getting excited when it was 20 seconds!





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It appears someone pressed the "Launch" button.





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WE HAVE LIFT-OFF!!!





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At this point I will allow you, the blog viewer, to look at these images and be in awe of the mighty shuttle.....





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.....amazing, absolutely amazing. The mighty shuttle has left the planet.





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"NAASSSSSAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"












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Me and Ray overlooking the launch pad before we head back over to the Visitor Complex.





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We were lucky enough to have a retired astronaut on the bus ride with us, and he teased everyone by taking a poll to see how many of us have been into outer space.





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Ray and I had a fun time at Kennedy Space Center, but now we must head back to Orlando in a ridiculous amount of traffic.





EENNNNNNNNNNNDD!!!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

As per usual, I needs must leave a comment. Yet again another lovely bloggin' post.

miss cat