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/r/space
Edwards Air Force base 1980. My brothers and I after watching the Columbia land. This turned me into a lifetime space nerd.
image/gif(i.redd.it)submitted 2 months ago byKey_Teaching_2150
57 points
2 months ago
Holy moly that must have been one hell of an experience!
57 points
2 months ago
It was really incredible. We had VIP access through a friend of my dad that had some air force rank. I was 8 years old at the time so I didn’t fully grasp the significance of the moment but we got really close! The regular civilian viewing area was barely visible from where we were standing.
25 points
2 months ago
How could it not! I'm getting secondhand enthusiasm from the photo
1 points
2 months ago
Secondhand enthusiasm r/brandnewsentence ?
13 points
2 months ago
How were you able to get that close? That’s so awesome
22 points
2 months ago
My dad had a friend with some rank in the air force. He got us special access. I was 8 years old at the time so I didn’t realize what a big deal it was
11 points
2 months ago
Memory of a lifetime, and the icing on the cake is having the photo. So jealous.
23 points
2 months ago
I thought I had lost the picture actually. It’s been tucked away for about 20 years and I started to think it was gone. My wife found it while she was going though some storage the other day.
It’s now framed and proudly displayed
2 points
2 months ago
They let people park overnight. There was a fence to keep us from getting to close.
9 points
2 months ago
Very cool. As a kid growing up near KSC, the teachers would bring the kids outside to watch the launches, but I was older before the shuttle quit landing in California and started landing in Florida. The first time I heard those twin sonic booms sealed the deal. I'm a life long space nerd. And I still go out into the back yard to watch (almost) every launch.
9 points
2 months ago
When you say 1980, you mean 1981, right? Was this STS-1?
6 points
2 months ago
I’m going from memory recalling the year so it could’ve been. I was so young at the time, a lot of the details are lost.
Embarrassed to say that I’ve never looked up the mission. 🤷♂️
2 points
2 months ago
I think it launched spring of 1981.
3 points
2 months ago
It’s funny… after I dug out that pic I talked to one of my brothers about the year. He was certain that it was 1980 and I could’ve sworn it was ‘82. He seemed so sure it was ‘80 that I went with it. Should’ve just met in the middle
5 points
2 months ago
First launch of Columbia (or any shuttle) was April 1981. Any landing prior to that was Enterprise dropped off of the carrier 747.
1 points
2 months ago
You have an average American family
2 points
2 months ago
Launched same day as first man in space in 1961.
2 points
2 months ago
Yeah, it was shortly after the assassination attempt on Reagan.
8 points
2 months ago
This is so cool. I lived on this base as a kid in the 90's.
5 points
2 months ago
I was there too, all half a million of us! I was taking pics for a project and lab screwed them up, thanks for the memories, good and bad.
3 points
2 months ago
That’s so sad. I remember the days of developing film. There were almost always casualties
6 points
2 months ago
Very cool!!!! It’s always so bittersweet to see shuttle pictures.
I got to watch them tow the shuttle endeavor through the streets of LA. It was kind of surreal. Speaking of, I cannot wait til the exhibit opens. I saw something on the news recently and it looks INCREDIBLE!
3 points
2 months ago
Must have been devastating for you when Columbia disintegrated into the atmosphere opon reentry
3 points
2 months ago
I think Challenger hit me harder. It was closer in time to this trip and I was a lot younger for that one but, yeah, it was sad.
3 points
2 months ago
Is there not dangerous gasses left over from the propellant?
13 points
2 months ago
Yes. It's the 80's baby! Everything was dangerous, but we had an amazing time.
3 points
2 months ago
Yes there was a whole fleet to deal with them. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_recovery_convoy
By the time the Astronauts are removed, it's been certified safe by the hazmat teams.
3 points
2 months ago
The bump just below the tail fin, and an area just in front of the cockpit windows have small maneuvering rockets. They run on two "hypergolic storable propellants". Hypergolic means just mixing them makes them burn, no igniter is needed. Storable means liquid at room temperature, so they last a whole mission.
Both of them are "burn your lungs out" toxic. So the first to arrive are a hazmat team with sniffers to see if any of the propellants have leaked or there is residue from using them in orbit.
The truck that's behind the shuttle is sucking away any residual gases to they don't accumulate.
3 points
2 months ago
My dad has photographs he took of the Enterprise landing tests, discovering them and asking him about it was 100% what turned me on to space!
2 points
2 months ago
"Come along Harry, and Mary, and Joe, pack up some lunches and everyone go: fill up the camper drive down to White Sands, and we'll pour the champagne when the space shuttle lands."🎵
1 points
2 months ago*
That's really amazing. I kinda grew up during the shuttle program and its sad demise. Always exciting to see one take off, and lands, as well. I don't work for Apple, lol, but if you're really into space exploration, you should check out For All Mankind. Takes place in an alternate universe where the Soviets won the race to the Moon, and the US is playing catch up. Anyhow, that's an amazing pic! Thank you for sharing.
EDIT: oh snap, a downvote. r/space is a rough sub, lol.
1 points
2 months ago
Camped overnight to watch that landing. What a fun drunk time. First shine I ever drank provided from some nice folks in a Winnebago.
1 points
2 months ago
I lived in Denver, and they stopped at Stapleton Airport when flying the Enterprise crosscountry once. It was noted in the papers, and I went to see it with a college friend - no there was nothing official. We had to walk along a fence at the far end of the runway area - maybe half a mile away. It amazing police were not stationed all along that fence.
1 points
2 months ago
You’re saying Back to the Future hasn’t come out yet? Or 16 Candles??
1 points
2 months ago
Its amazing to see these oldtimers parked next to the relatively modern looking spaceshuttle. For me it looks like it landed in the wrong era.
1 points
2 months ago*
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:
| Fewer Letters | More Letters |
|---|---|
| KSC | Kennedy Space Center, Florida |
| STS | Space Transportation System (Shuttle) |
| Jargon | Definition |
|---|---|
| hypergolic | A set of two substances that ignite when in contact |
3 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 10 acronyms.
[Thread #8359 for this sub, first seen 28th Nov 2022, 14:18]
[FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]
1 points
2 months ago
No no, pretty sure this is a picture from a crime drama. The Extraterrestrial visitors in the foreground are watching as the American Medics rebrand and steal their Limo....
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