Space Huggers

Friday afternoon I had the great privilege of being one of the very last dozen journalists to ever visit a Space Shuttle on an operational launch pad. While I am not a fan of heights at all, I must admit that to be standing 255 feet above the base of Launch Pad 39-A looking down upon Space Shuttle Atlantis was an incredible experience. Actually, even being on the 95 foot level which is the base of the pad upon which the SRBs are mounted was a thrill of a lifetime. At several points I was mere inches away from the orbiter stack and easily could have touched it. Life as a journalist just does not get better than this.

Here are a few highlights from the afternoon’s adventure. I’ve also uploaded many more photos taken within Launch Complex 39 at my SmugMug site which can be accessed directly via www.ShuttlePhotos.com. All of the photos listed there are available as prints by a professional photo lab on your choice of several high-quality photo papers. My preference is the Kodak Endura metallic paper as it really makes these type of images pop off the paper.

Atlantis awaits the slow voyage atop the MLP from the VAB to Launch Pad 39A.

The following is the original version of a column I wrote for my hometown newspaper. It is the fourth in a series of articles meant to inform and hopefully inspire students of my alma mater to pursue careers in the STEM fields.

It is hard to complain when experiencing a bad night on the Space Coast as the morning can be stunning indeed.

Last Tuesday marked the final rollout of space shuttle Atlantis to the launch pad, followed just hours later by the landing of Endeavour for the last time. I was at Kennedy Space Center all night shooting photographs of both events but ended up with little decent to show for it. I was trying out a new 18 mm lens while watching Atlantis exit the Vehicle Assembly Building via the crawler-transporter. Once again, I had the pleasure of some of the best seats in the house as I witnessed the historic event from Level 5 and Level 16 of the VAB and later from atop the nearby Launch Control Center. I took plenty of photos but ended up quite unhappy with the lack of sharpness and large amount of noise within the image files. Lesson learned. Never try out new equipment on a one-off event, especially if it is the only lens you are carrying with you at the time.

(more…)

The once in a lifetime photos of Endeavour docked at the ISS have been released by the Russians and they are stunning images indeed. Expedition 27 crew member Paolo Nespoli captured the unique images of the orbiting duo while he was inside the Soyuz TMA-20 capsule which had departed from the ISS just minutes earlier. These images represent the first – and sadly last time – that a space shuttle and ISS have been photographed in their entirety from outer space while docked together.

To see the rest of the awe-inspiring pictures in high resolution, please visit:

http://www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-27/inflight/ndxpage40.html

The following is the original version of a column I wrote for my hometown newspaper – the Eldon Advertiser – which was published earlier this week. It is the third in a series of articles meant to inform and hopefully inspire current students of my alma mater to pursue careers in the STEM fields – science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Space shuttle Atlantis hangs inside the vast expanse of the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center.

The Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center is massive. That actually is an understatement. The VAB is the largest single-story building in the world at 526 feet tall by 716 feet long and 518 feet wide. The interior volume of the VAB is so immense that rain clouds have formed inside of the building before. The four exterior bay doors are the largest doors in the world.

The VAB was built to be able to assemble four Saturn V rockets at a time. The Saturn V is the rocket which took Neil Armstrong to the moon. Those rockets were no small item themselves. Each was 363 feet tall and had a 33-foot diameter. Did I mention that the VAB is huge? Well, it really is.

Seeing the inside of the VAB had been a goal of mine ever since I first laid eyes on it. I finally pulled the feat off earlier this year. I’ve been inside the structure six times now for hours at a time, and it never ceases to amaze me. Don’t get the wrong idea. The VAB is not a futuristic place modeled after a Star Trek episode. There is little in the way of a sterile environment inside the walls of this mammoth of a building. It is simplistic with a large open central area and on each side a towering mass of gray steel girders, platforms and catwalks. All coated with decades of dirt and grime. Even rocket scientists aren’t immune from getting their hands dirty here.

(more…)