Friday, July 08, 2011

Picture Post : Bon Voyage Atlantis


Here is my attempt at a topical picture. It was taken four weeks ago and shows the Space Shuttle Atlantis already on its launch pad. If the Florida weather clears, it will launch later on today and a whole chapter in space flight will come to an end. When we were at the Space Centre, there was a feeling of sadness about the place as it prepares for its future as a superior theme park rather than as an active scientific facility. Within the next couple of days, the rocket and its' boosters will be gone - the metal shed and the simulator rides will remain. Bon Voyage, Atlantis.

8 comments:

  1. Apart from the sadness it must have been quite exciting being so close to Atlantis.

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  2. my!! you're SO actual!!
    i will miss the shuttle program. it was an interesting design, quite elegant. and so much happened with those, be it their achievements or the ones that blew up, taking us all by surprise...
    it was even featured in a James Bond movie!!
    this is the end of an era. how it will affect the future of the space program, who knows???

    sigh...

    HUGZ

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  3. So Atlantis is sinking once again you say?..haha..had to say that.

    Must have been fun getting to be so close and does suck that it is becoming nothing more than another tacky theme park.

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  4. it should be cool to see what comes next...a lot of memories in those shells...

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  5. I wanted to be an astronaut when I was a kid, so many dreams and promising exploration. Just when we should be doing More....

    Interesting photo. Something so complex, with a metal shed that looks like an over-sized outhouse.

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  6. I heard an 'expert' say that future exploration will have be both a global and ,primarily, a commercial effort. My first thought was, 'not in this economic climate', but such is the way of the world, they may head for Mars next week!

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  7. I was just a little boy when they started sending men into space. Ten years or so later, after the first few moon landings, the romanticism was lost on me. At this stage, I regret to say that I might actually prefer the tacky theme park. Kinda sad, really.

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  8. End of an era. Back in the Fifties, when I read a lot of Sci-Fi, I was sure that by now we'd be visiting other planets -- maybe other solar systems. Ah, well...

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