STS-125

[JLM]

I saw STS-125 launch when I was at school, the teacher let us go after the test and a few other teachers took their kids too. Quite cloudy, but we got to see the flame trail and as soon as we got back to the classroom, Atlantis already seperated from the SRBs and left the atmosphere.

God speed Atlantis and her crew.

>crossed fingers<

[Admin]

Ryan,

I usually sync it at T-000:02:00:00 (T-two hours), then pause and re-sync it during hold times since they differ from mission to mission and it is impossible to know by how much in advance. It is cool to see that most of the SSM2007 ops are in sync with the real ones even that early in the countdown.

At the T-000:00:09:00 hold, I pause and wait until 10 sec before "resume countdown", unpause and press the 9-minutes counter start at the Huston "mark". After that, I'm too busy for watching the MET since there are several critical ops to perform - APS start, for example.

Basically, after the 9 minutes "resume countdown" it is all on auto - no sync needed.

/Admin

[USA~Driver]

11May09

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off at 2:01 p.m. Eastern Time today for an 11-day mission. Atlantis' target is the Hubble Space Telescope, where the crew will conduct 5 spacewalks to restore and enhance the orbiting observatory.


I was at work and missed the festivities... 

[bradleyjs]

Sure was a beautiful launch today! Been super-hot here in Central FL (95+) over the last week and it almost got delayed due to a cloud boundary to the North-West... We haven't had any rain, until just now, in the last 35+ days... But, very nice to see it launch and go on a East-South-East trajectory (which they usually fly East-North-East for the ISS).

[sgi]

Uri_ba, I also have experienced problems with connection during launch, and many times my laptop screen showed a "beautiful" black... Although with low frames, I saw the lift off and part of ascent, until before MECO the screen was black and sound was out. Finish.   

[sgi]

P.S.= Next mission, I also would try the synchrony between SSM 2007 and the real launch: ought to be very interesting (and exciting for the SSM 2007 team!).

[davidrobinsonjr]

[davidrobinsonjr]

I am extremely jealous. I have wanted to see a launch in person for 40 years.

[JLM]

Hay guys, I just found out something interesting about commander Scott Altman, He was a one time stunt pilot for Tom Cruise when they were filming the 1986 film Top Gun. He use to be a Navy pilot flying an F-14 Tomcat at NAS (Naval Air Station) Miramar.

[Admin]

Hay guys, I just found out something interesting about commander Scott Altman, He was a one time stunt pilot for Tom Cruise when they were filming the 1986 film Top Gun. He use to be a Navy pilot flying an F-14 Tomcat at NAS (Naval Air Station) Miramar.

Yep, and another one: in STS-93 (simulated by STS-2007) CDR Scott Altman was a CAPCOM during that mission. You can hear CDR Eileen Collins calling his callsign - "Scooter" - during the faults they had T+3 seconds into liftoff.

/Admin

[Admin]

Here is a small set of STS-125 liftoff pics taken by one of our NASA friends, Branch Manager Tracey K. at KSC. She took 70 shots with a 500mm lens without using a stand. This lady has a steady hand 

We received her kind permission to post these cool shots here for the SSM2007 community benefit.

Please note that all the pics are copyrighted and that they cannot be used for any purpose whatsoever.

Enjoy.

/Admin

[Nephi]

This one keeps being the best IMHO :

[spaceboy7441]

These are mine I took. They are not very goo as it was very cloudy and smokey(Drought is causing a lot of fires) but you can see the trail and I am in Tampa so it is not bad considering the distance I am from Cape! I am potentially going to STS-127 launch so if I do I will be sure to post some pics.

[USA~Driver]

12May09

An outer space inspection of the heat shield on the NASA space shuttle Atlantis has found multiple dings in critical outer tiles.

The scratches were found on the forward part of the shuttle's right wing close to where it connects to the fuselage, according to NASA spokeswoman Katherine Trinidad. The damage, found on four different heat shield tiles, looks minor, but NASA will continue to investigate it, while also looking for any other damage on the space shuttle which is orbiting about 350 miles above the Earth.

The damage seems to be related to a debris impact that occurred about 104 seconds after the Atlantis lifted off the ground yesterday afternoon. 

[HMSEndeavorreborn]

Having a look at the launch vid its impossible to tell that anything impacted the shuttles wing at MET 1:04. The camera angle from NASA tv is an external shot not the usual ET feedline cam.

Hope this doesn't mean Endeavour's called up on STS-400