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anth
Member
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# Posted: 12 Apr 2006 16:35
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Happy Birthday to the Space Shuttle
I really cannot believe its been 25 years!? 
25 years since i faked a terrible tummy ache to skip school and watch Columbia lift off on live TV.
I was nuts on space flight at the age of 10. I just missed out on following the Apollo missions to the Moon. I was a few days old when Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the Lunar surface.
The Shuttle was my big hope to see men in space and be old enough to take it all in. The springboard to Mars, and probably the way forward for a 10 year old to get to Mars too!  Well, i'm not exactly on my own wanting to be an Astronaut at 10...come on! ( ok, i still want to be one, happy now? )
Watching Columbia that day was one of the most exciting things i ever saw. I still have my Dinky toy Shuttle on display in my bedroom. ( no comments please! I'm sounding like Frankie Howerd here! )
As i grew up, the routine of the Shuttle flights kind of took the exitement away, but i suppose thats a tribute to NASA, that it did indeed become routine. My biggest childhood Astronaut hero is still the Robotic Viking Mars Lander though. No humans ever took its place. Which i suppose is what happens when you just re-visit Earth orbit over and over. It also reflects the barren generation of human space flight i grew up in post Apollo.
That's not taking anything away from the Shuttle. An astounding machine, worked by outstanding people. It should have gone down in the history books as a spectacular stepping stone to the Moon and Mars, the workhorse that built the Mars fleet. But short sighted officials shouldnt take the shine of this technological wonder.
I cant wait to see the Shuttle lift off again. Whatever anybody says, it has opened space to so many people, it has inspired many to go into space science. Due to its crews being made up of honest hard working men and women, not just decorated military men.
Of course, any Shuttle birthday is tinged with sadness. As that first launch vehicle is no longer with us. She looked wonderful that day 25 years ago. All white, gleaming, a symbol of mans progress, and ingenuity. I miss you Columbia. I hope the Shuttle goes out with style. I still have my fingers crossed the last missions will see a service of the Hubble Space Telescope. That would be a fitting finale for this wonderful machine.
It would be great to hear your views and memories of the Shuttle fleet. 
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demonvamp
Member
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# Posted: 13 Apr 2006 12:13
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Yes, to everything.
You faked a tummy ache  we actually got to sit in our tv room at school for the first go *it was delayed so I saw it at home* I'm sad enough to admit I had news clippings on my wall *I was 9 dammit!*.
Ah, me... different times. Folk are so uninspired these days, what happened to a world where space launches were heroic news and celebrity weddings nothing to write home about. We're out of whack 
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anth
Member
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# Posted: 14 Apr 2006 02:39
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Queenie : *L* A very bad tummy, i think my mum knew though. I taped the whole thing on video too. Problem is, its on Betamax. *L*
Yep. Maybe people do not get excited because there is not alot to get excited about these days, ie watching people playing with M&M's in orbit and drinking blobs of water in zero G. Which has become old hat to them maybe? As opposed to seeing Astronauts walking on another world, or watching us build towards that.
That's no reflection on the Shuttle, the Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station missions proved the Shuttle could have been an amazing tool for constructing the ships that took us back to the Moon or onto Mars.
I'm not sure why Brad and Jen, or Brad and Angelina became more important than Astronauts. People seem to adore things that are unreal to them, or people who do things they could not do. Astronauts did become quite ordinary people, which again, is a tribute to just how good the Shuttle is. Apart from the mission commander and pilots the rest of the seven man crew could be anybody fit enough to take 3G's on lift off ( most of us do that on a trip to the fun fair! Or if you get a lift from me in my car ) which is everyday people like you and i.
On the plus side though, it does mean we get scientists in the appropriate fields joining the manned spaceflight program. Unlike the old days, which saw only one scientist walk on the Moon among a long list of test pilots and military men who knew next to nothing. Apart from a crash course in geology before lift off.
Personally, i'd like to see the whole Shuttle fleet launched into space when it reaches the end of its life. Dock them all together, Then strap a booster to them and turn them into a Lunar orbit space station! *L* That would be cool!
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