Monday, July 21, 2014

Wondering About the Space Shuttles.

Yesterday, I talked about man's first landing on the moon.  Today, I am going to continue along with more of the space program, today's subject is the space shuttles.  They were a very important part in the U.S. of A's space program, although Challenger on its 10th mission, broke apart shortly after its lift-off.  I remember seeing this horrible picture on TV of the end of Challenger and the astronauts aboard:

That slowed down the space program for awhile but it did resume.  The launch of the shuttle was a mighty thing to behold.  I sure wish I could have seen a launch in person:

Those two solid fuel boosters sure did light up the sky and get the shuttle off the Earth's surface:

It had huge cargo doors that opened to release its cargo, like a satellite, or to service a satellite (like the Hubble Space Telescope) or retrieve one, like the Hubble Space Telescope:

And another picture of the shuttle in space with its cargo doors wide open:

It even serviced the space station.  Also, during the shuttles reign, they carried more than 350 people into space and flew more than five hundred million miles.  They were retired so that NASA could focus on deep-space exploration.  It was on this day, back in 2011, that the shuttle program completed its final mission of 135 flights.  Dang, I would have never guessed that they flew that many missions.

Sorry I am late with this posting, had things to do.  Better late than never, right.  Now, you all have a great evening, you hear?

9 comments:

  1. Great shuttle pictures! When I worked in Houston many many years ago, I lived on NASA RD 1 just down from the space center.

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    1. I toured NASA back in "the good old days" and got to see actual work going on. Just a few years ago, relatives came to visit and I took them to NASA and it had all changed. Visitors were much more restricted. Back when I was working, I got to see parts of NASA that most visitors never got to see. I worked for myself as a design engineer and accompanied a machine shop owner there on a project. Nothing to do with space.

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  3. I was unfortunate enough to be watching the shuttle Columbia when it came apart over your house.

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    1. Yes, it scattered debris all over this part of Texas.

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  4. That was a horrendous day. I live near Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville and have many friends who work for NASA. When I went to Florida I went to the launch site, but have never been to the Houston facility.

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    1. I live near Huntsville, but it is the one in Texas but you are near the one in Alabama. Of course, here in Texas almost every house is an arsenal (grin).

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  5. My son was home from school that day, saw it happen on tv, called me at work.

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    1. Not a pretty sight, but a huge part of our space history.

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