The last Space Shuttle Discovery Launch
In 2010 and 2011 I was working for a company that broadcast a number of different programming. The parent company I worked for mostly did major league and college sports. Baseball, Basketball and Hockey were the primary staples. HD Net was one of the facilities that was in a partnership with the parent company. When I was at work one day I mentioned that I was going to be taking some time off at the next/upcoming Space Shuttle launch as this was a bucket list item of mine to check off. I didn't really think through (or even know) that the parent company was in a partnership with HD Net broadcasting the shuttle launches.
In this staff meeting the director of programming was there and she responded with "would you like to go on a press pass?" Now, anyone in their right mind knows there is only ONE answer to this question. "Can we get two and my wife goes as well?"
Fortunately her answer was yes and we filled out the appropriate paperwork and were on our way. The launch was scheduled to be in November. One thing about going to see any space launch your time needs to be VERY flexible. The week went went down in late October 2010 the launch was always "tomorrow". This was due to leaking issues in the main fuel tank. We finally tossed in the towel after several days - but not before we had a good tour of the area.
Our time spent covered a bike ride up/down Coco beach renting bikes from a local shop. This was really fun and we were able to explore a bit of the area. We also visited the Kennedy Space Center and took a tour of their Saturn V rocket - which is a must see event.
In this staff meeting the director of programming was there and she responded with "would you like to go on a press pass?" Now, anyone in their right mind knows there is only ONE answer to this question. "Can we get two and my wife goes as well?"
Fortunately her answer was yes and we filled out the appropriate paperwork and were on our way. The launch was scheduled to be in November. One thing about going to see any space launch your time needs to be VERY flexible. The week went went down in late October 2010 the launch was always "tomorrow". This was due to leaking issues in the main fuel tank. We finally tossed in the towel after several days - but not before we had a good tour of the area.
Our time spent covered a bike ride up/down Coco beach renting bikes from a local shop. This was really fun and we were able to explore a bit of the area. We also visited the Kennedy Space Center and took a tour of their Saturn V rocket - which is a must see event.
Discovery Launch attempt October 2010
Meeting Laura Shepard-Churchley
Visiting a shuttle launch on a press pass can make things interesting. Greg Dobbs was the on-air journalist who we connected with for the bike ride on the beach in the October visit. When I called Greg to go for the bike ride on Coco beach (his suggestion) that was when we first learned that days launch had been scrubbed. Regardless, we went for our ride. At the end of the days ride he asks if we wanted to go the next day because his friend Laura Shepard-Churchly was going to be going with him. In the back of my brain I was like "waitaminute... we're in FL at NASA and someone with the name Shepard is here - surely that can't be a coincidence." A quick inquiry and sure enough - Laura is the daughter of Alan Shepard. America's first astronaut into space.
We sure as heck weren't going to pass up an opportunity to bump up against history.
Sure enough, the following day, we arrived for our bike ride as expected and we get introduced to Laura Shepard. She was very easy going, gracious with sharing her life experiences with her dad and growing up around the space program. Under any other circumstances this would have been the highlight of any trip, but this one was only slightly eeked out by the shuttle launch.
We sure as heck weren't going to pass up an opportunity to bump up against history.
Sure enough, the following day, we arrived for our bike ride as expected and we get introduced to Laura Shepard. She was very easy going, gracious with sharing her life experiences with her dad and growing up around the space program. Under any other circumstances this would have been the highlight of any trip, but this one was only slightly eeked out by the shuttle launch.
Discovery Launch February 2011
Having missed out on the opportunity to see one of the last Space Shuttle launches we headed home. A few weeks go by and Laurie asks "Are our launch passes good for that date or that launch". Well, the press passes were for the launch itself. So at that time we now have unfinished business and started watching every snippet of news out there for the rescheduled launch of Discovery. When the time came, EVERYTHING had to go right. We booked our flight, left work on a red-eye to Orlando, managed to arrange a hotel room (thanks to Laura) and arrived there about 2 a.m. We woke up about 5hrs later to grab a quick breakfast and head off to the press site.
Things were much different this time. LOTS of press activity. It really felt like things were going to go along. We saw a few folks who looked familiar - most notably Bill Nye the "Science Guy" was wandering around.
Things were much different this time. LOTS of press activity. It really felt like things were going to go along. We saw a few folks who looked familiar - most notably Bill Nye the "Science Guy" was wandering around.
A little throwback....
When I was 11 (so roughly December 1979) the family visited Florida. The trip included an excursion out to Kennedy Space Center. This would have been roughly a year or so before the first shuttle launch. I don't have many photos from that trip, but I thought was interesting is the rocket garden was pretty much an open field on our first visit - and by the time we came back in 2010 there was a complete center built up around the garden as seen in the second picture here.