All space shuttle missions, in 8 minutes.
July 22, 2011 9:29 AM   Subscribe

 
I still get depressed by Challenger footage.
posted by oddman at 9:41 AM on July 22, 2011


Best $170 billion video ever!
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 9:46 AM on July 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


You haven't seen Avatar, I guess?
posted by Plutor at 9:57 AM on July 22, 2011


There's something in my eye....
posted by brand-gnu at 10:33 AM on July 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


I loved this!
posted by vibrotronica at 10:40 AM on July 22, 2011


WE COULD OF HAD THE MOON
posted by The Whelk at 10:54 AM on July 22, 2011 [6 favorites]


WE COULD OF HAD THE MOON

GodDAMMIT.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:18 PM on July 22, 2011 [1 favorite]


This makes me feel all shmoopy. I was 12 when the first shuttle launched and my dad worked for NASA so he would always get me a mission patch at the gift shop at work.
posted by vespabelle at 12:28 PM on July 22, 2011


.
posted by poe at 1:38 PM on July 22, 2011


needs moar metal anthemz
posted by readyfreddy at 2:27 PM on July 22, 2011


that's quite emotional. sad to see that era end.
posted by zombieApoc at 4:29 PM on July 22, 2011


I have to admit, I'm feeling the end of this program more than I thought I would. For most of my life there have been space shuttles carrying people in to space. I watched the final landing and was surprised to find myself getting a little emotional.

Nice video.
posted by evilcolonel at 5:36 PM on July 22, 2011


I'll just pop in to highly recommend shuttle astronaut Mike Mullane's memoir, Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut. He was a member of the first shuttle class and is remarkably candid about things like bodily functions (on the launchpad and in orbit), NASA internal politics (he claims the bosses ruled through fear and capriciousness and were hated by most of the astronaut corps), the ridiculous sexism he was raised with and only sort of seems to have got over and more. I'm 3/4 through and enjoying it a lot. If you can stand occasional moments of absurdly stupid machismo, it's a fascinating look at the space shuttle era with tons of sharp insights into life as an astronaut, esp. life as an astronaut just before, during and after the Challenger disaster (he was a good friend of Challenger astronaut Judy Resnick and had flown in the shuttle with her before). Start with chapter 19 if you want to dive in with his experiences in space. He's a very sharp, observant writer (again, with the caveat about the at-times gleeful wallowing in the sexism he says he was cured of by working alongside female astronauts).

I found out about Mullane's book via a footnote on page 145 in Mary Roach's Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, where she recommends it with, "If you read just one astronaut memoir in your life, make it Mullane's." Sounds about right. (Roach's book is great fun, too, but that's no surprise.)
posted by mediareport at 5:03 PM on July 23, 2011


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