Remind HN: STS-134, Space Shuttle Endevour's last launch is at 8:56AM ET | Hacker News Reader

Remind HN: STS-134, Space Shuttle Endevour's last launch is at 8:56AM ET

nasa.gov

47 pointsjonknee25 comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Jb12mzrgEM

We've been working on a project to capture the last flights of the Space Shuttle Program. It's meant a lot of time out with the bugs, heat, sun, gators and ever present pad security folks.

Once the sound hits, the maniacal laughter you hear is me!

Now we wait a couple of hours to see how our cameras faired. We're at the media center 3.2 miles from the Orbiter, our cameras are at 500-600 feet... I feel for them.

Glad this launch wasn't scrubbed too.

That must sound incredible in person. Even the youtube version is amazing.

I'm about 45 miles south of the launch pad. We watched it go up this morning and came in once it had disappeared into the sky (far higher than this video as we had a clearer view). Once we came back in and I sat down at my desk, the sound finally hit us, some 3.4 minutes after take off. It was still powerful enough to feel. I couldn't imagine being that close to one.

First HN read of the day. Turned on Nasa TV in the background while I'm working. Perfect. Thanks for the heads up.

Same - perfect way to start the day.

I'm in Florida, but across the state in overcast conditions so I'm having to stick to NASA TV. Ustream is carrying it in HD this morning:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

I'm right across the river. I wanted to see one go in person before the end.

You're in for a show. I've caught a bunch over the years and never been disappointed (except for a scrub).

It was a pretty awesome 6 seconds before it reached the clouds. The sound is something else though.

Me and ~107,000 other interested viewers on UStream - I wonder how much bandwidth _that_ burned?

Nothing compared to how much fuel the rockets burned. Digital and Virtual is our glorious ecologically friendlier future.

"Celebrate Space! A mix of ambient and experimental music mixed with the historical sounds of the space program. And when a space shuttle mission is happening, we mix it in live from launch to landing."

http://somafm.com/missioncontrol/

Pretty vehicle. Impractical, but pretty.

Most practical thing we have currently to deliver large payloads and a decent crew of astronauts.

Hopefully not for long. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpaceX#Falcon_X

Not as pretty as the Saturn V rocket. I always get a thrill watching footage of one of those blasting off.

I was fortunate enough to see a midnight shuttle launch from across the lake at Titusville. It's one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.

Thanks for sharing.

It is fun to watch a piece of history in the making. Very interesting.

I would love to see one in person, but it's really been difficult with the delays. If the President can't manage to pull it off...

I remember watching the very first space shuttle launch in England with our group of exchange students. They were very upset that the "bloody yanks" were going to pull a major space undertaking like this off.

At the time it was fun to see how worked up they were but I'm glad this big waste of money is finally coming to an end. The cost of putting humans in space (and where the shuttle goes isn't really what I consider "space") is just too high.

The NASA budget is a mere drop in the bucket compared to the defense budget and entitlement programs. In my opinion, I don't think it's getting enough funding. The future of the human race is among the stars.

Agree about the defense budget, makes me mad every time I think about it. Entitlements is a management problem but the size of "defense" is just insanity.

As a percentage of GDP, it is only about 5%, granted everyone else is around 2.5%, but if you look at the numbers for example, in world war 2, we were spending about 40% of the GDP.

In actuality we could spend like this perfectly easily and support 'entitlements', we just have to raise taxes...

Watching it via Roku on NASA TV.

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