I laugh to see your tiny world; Your toys of ships, your cars

May 21, 2010 10:55 AM

Go For Launch! Timelapse video of preparing STS-131 (Discovery) for launch.

from the site: "Scott Andrews, Stan Jirman and Philip Scott Andrews condense six weeks of painstaking work into three minutes, 52 seconds". For Air and Space Magazine.

posted by blue_beetle (17 comments total)

Oops, that should be "The Air and Space Museum".
posted by blue_beetle at 10:57 AM on May 21, 2010

Watching the part where the Shuttle is hoisted up and then (OMG!) flipped around 90 degrees, I was thinking, "Please don't drop it...please don't drop it..."
posted by fijiwriter at 11:35 AM on May 21, 2010

Excellent camera work. Lots of prep time, for sure.
posted by parhamr at 11:43 AM on May 21, 2010

I was thinking, "Please don't drop it...please don't drop it..."

Every time we did that with a missile casing I thought the same thing.

Then we dropped one. Oops!
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 11:48 AM on May 21, 2010

I guess the austronauts get pretty dizzy with all that movement...
posted by dov3 at 12:07 PM on May 21, 2010

I would like to see this recreated with Legos and ants.
posted by not_on_display at 12:13 PM on May 21, 2010

Awesome video. That mankind has made a machine that can safely transport people into space and back will never cease to amaze me.
posted by alligatorman at 12:14 PM on May 21, 2010

I'll be in my bunk...
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 12:17 PM on May 21, 2010

Man, that was COOOOL. I watched at work, with my headphones on...not realizing I'd HEAR the engines fire. It, um, scared me a little.
posted by Richat at 12:22 PM on May 21, 2010

Amazing. Having grown up with the shuttle program I am having a sentimental moment...

Ok, it passed, all better.
posted by sundri at 1:11 PM on May 21, 2010

So very cool. Reminds me of the old 1920's era movies of people milling around at breakneck pace, prepping a ship or an aircraft. It's odd how un-automated the process is, and how many people are involved.

The thought has struck me before - the frame of the shuttle has to be designed to work under various load conditions - not just work as an aerospace craft. And the whole thing has to be able to withstand ambient moisture, dew, and some precipitation. It's not just a spacecraft - it's a flying fucking building.
posted by Xoebe at 1:16 PM on May 21, 2010

Great stuff. Whenever I see something like that I am in awe that humans can develop such things -- the shuttle, the fuel tank, all of the devices necessary to prep for a launch, etc.

Check out this incredible photo of Atlantis docking with the ISS, against the sun last Sunday.
posted by ericb at 1:35 PM on May 21, 2010 [1 favorite]

For all of the technology surrounding it, the Shuttle looks like a whale--its belly looks like living skin.
posted by feste at 1:41 PM on May 21, 2010

Great video.

I recently visited the Seattle Museum of Flight, and got to sit in a SR-71 cockpit and walk through a Concorde.

They're in a museum, but they aren't museum pieces. Nothing we have made since can do what they did. They're dreams we have given up on, high roads we no longer care to travel.

And soon the Shuttle will join them.

This isn't the future I was hoping for.
posted by bitmage at 1:46 PM on May 21, 2010 [4 favorites]

Excellent video! Thanks for posting.

I know the hangar where they mate the shuttle to the tanks is 'tall', but SHEESH, I never appreciated just HOW tall it was until now!
posted by matty at 6:13 PM on May 21, 2010

I will never tire of seeing the VAB's cranes juggle kilotons of top-shelf space hardware.
posted by Kikkoman at 9:43 PM on May 21, 2010

The only thing it's missing is a Pink Floyd soundtrack. I keed, this video blows my mind.
posted by rageagainsttherobots at 9:29 AM on May 22, 2010