Endeavour's Final Ferry Flight

This week the Space Shuttle, Endeavour, took it's last ferry flight from NASA's Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles where it will be put on display at the California Science Center. Along the way she stopped in Houston for a day. Endeavour gave NASA's Johnson Space Center one final show before heading to her new home. It was certainly another emotional moment filled with lots of mixed feelings...joy to see her again, sadness that she won't fly again, joy in remembering all she's done for us, and pain in realizing neither she nor any of the other shuttles that flew in space have a home here in Houston. I am so grateful to have been a part of her history having worked in the Mission Control Center while she helped us assemble the International Space Station.

Here is a picture my friend and fellow ODIN flight controller, Mike Misiora, took of Endeavour's final flyover here at JSC on Wednesday. The flag in this picture is the flag that flies over the Mission Control Center.

After soccer practice that evening, we attempted to take the kids to see Endeavour up close. Unfortunately, traffic wasn't going to allow us to get there before they closed the gates. Instead we drove to the other side of the fields at Ellington and took one last look at her as the sun was setting on another chapter in NASA's history.

The Last Shuttle Launch

We were fortunate enough to be able to watch the final Shuttle launch in person from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) Causeway. Ross won the lottery to get a Causeway Pass, which allows you to take up to 7 people in a vehicle to see the launch, so we invited our friends, the Fulliloves (Chris, Emma, and Clara), to join us. We left Audrey at home with my Dad, AKA Pop, since it was going to be a long and very busy weekend. Audrey did get to see a shuttle launch last year, which she's not likely to remember, but we have pictures to prove it! We missed her terribly and feel guilty for leaving her behind, but I don't know that we could have squeezed as much into this trip if she'd come. I'll limit this post to the details of the launch, but we went to Disney's Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom while we were there too!

We all flew to Florida on Thursday. Chris arrived earlier in the day, so he killed time by picking up our rental car and running to the grocery store. We stayed in a rental house in New Smyrna Beach, which worked out great! We awoke early Friday morning, loaded the car, picked up breakfast, and made our way to KSC. Traffic got heavy about 10 miles away, and we were there 4 hours early! Once we made it to the causeway, we set up camp, had some snacks, let the kids play, and eagerly waited!

Chris and Emma rented this awesome lens, which we used like a telescope prior to launch.

We each checked our phones every few minutes for the latest updates on the launch. Weather was forecasted to be "no go," so we were mentally preparing ourselves to make the trek out and back again the next day. Then about 10 minutes prior to the scheduled launch time of 11:26 ET, an announcement was made over the loops to the Shuttle Commander, Chris Ferguson, that things were looking good and we were likely going to launch today! (The loops were being played over loud speakers on the causeway.) I literally started bouncing up and down with excitement! Here are the pics from just after the announcement.

The countdown resumed at T-9 minutes, and we all took our places to watch the final Shuttle launch! At T-31 seconds to launch, a call was made that paused the sequence while retraction of the Gaseous Oxygen Vent Arm, or "Beanie Cap," was verified. As a former flight controller, I was filled with pride by the way the team managed everything. It's a lot of pressure to make that type of call during such a dynamic event and then resolve it quickly allowing the launch to resume, which it did! The crowd counted down from 10 seconds, and we watched the Space Shuttle, Atlantis, liftoff.

From where we were standing you could see the main engines ignite, the plume surround the vehicle, and Atlantis powerfully lift off the ground. It was a cloudy day, so she disappeared a little too quickly for us, but about the time Atlantis went through the clouds the rumble from the launch began to reach us. It's a sound and a feeling I won't forget.

Here's one of the amazing pictures Chris took during the launch followed by my snapshots of our view.

While we waited for the MECO (Main Engine Cut Off) call, which assures the crew has safely made it to orbit, we took some pics with the plume in the background.

Once Atlantis reached MECO, we packed up our stuff and headed to the car. A very nice gentleman even gave us a ride in his golf cart so we wouldn't have to walk as far! Because there were estimated to be over 1 million people at this launch, it took a while to get back to our rental house. The kids passed the time with naps and movies, while the adults talked non-stop about how amazing the launch was!

There are more pictures of our launch experience in the album, and there's more to come from the weekend!

Shuttle Motion Base Simulator

The Shuttle's Motion Base Simulator will be decomissioned and shipped off to Texas A&M when the last shuttle mission ends. Today Ross and I were given the opportunity to "fly" the shuttle in this simulator. We got to experience a little of how the astronauts train for both ascents and landings. Part way through the launch our pilot, Mark Sonoda, who is also my former boss, declared an abort of the launch, which lead to a return to launch site landing. Ross got the honors of landing the shuttle on that run, and he did awesome! Here are some pics of him in the commander's seat.

Here are a few pictures of the simulator. It's a very realistic model of the shuttle cockpit!

Here's the simulator from the outside. It actually tilts up so you're on your back for the launch simulations. It's really pretty incredible.

When Ross was done the simulator was reset, and I got a chance to land the shuttle too!

When we were done it was a bittersweet moment to realize we were a part of history by going on this ride. We signed the log book, received our print outs that showed how well we actually flew the shuttle, and headed out.

The reality of the shuttle program coming to an end has hit hard. The final shuttle launch is planned for Friday. Right now the weather is causing the probability to only be 30% chance of launch on Friday, but the chances get better over the following days. Ross and I are taking Jackson and heading to Florida in hopes of being able to see it!

Shuttle Fly Over

Today the shuttle flew right over our house on the back of a 747 on it's way back to Florida from California. It was a great site to see, and may be one of the last opportunities we have. Since I was home with Jackson today, I was able to get a few pictures.