Robert Frost (via cheesegasm)

Yes.

complex34:

Experience the final shuttle launch in photos, audio and personal stories. Fantastic photos.

“Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.” – quote hanging on the wall at the Kennedy Space Center

Words to live by.

complex34:

This is important folks. When SpaceX docks with the ISS that will be the first private company to ever do such a thing. And if Dragon can act as a resupply vehicle, it’s one step closer to becoming a viable low-Earth orbit manned vehicle.

Nice! Good luck, SpaceX!

(via asonlynasacan)

spaceandstuffidk:

S135-E-008715 (16 July 2011) —- The four crew members of the Atlantis STS-135 mission pose for a picture on the spacecraft’s flight deck. On the front row are NASA astronauts Doug Hurley (left) and Chris Ferguson, pilot and commander respectively. In the rear are NASA astronauts Sandy Magnus and Rex Walheim, both mission specialists. The U.S. flag pictured was flown on the first space shuttle mission, STS-1, and flew on this mission to be presented to the space station crew. It will remain onboard the station until the next crew launched from the U.S. will retrieve it for return to Earth. It will fly from Earth again, with the crew that launches from the U.S. on a journey of exploration beyond Earth orbit. Photo credit: NASA

(Okay, going to try something I’ve never really attempted before, telling a quasi-story across multiple image posts… The story will be the stuff not in parentheses.)

Let’s go.

spaceandstuffidk:

vintagenasa:

It was really a spur of the moment shoot.

My wife (at right in photo) was online and noticed the shuttle was launching in about an hour. I stepped outside to see how the weather looked and saw a wonderfully clear sky. My daughter and I started looking for places to shoot in my neighborhood and thought of the pond because of the wide expanse of water (no trees to block the view and the possibility of a reflection).

After slogging through some mud in the dark to get to a concrete bank overlooking the pond, I set up my 5d Mark II on a tripod and put two SB-800s on PocketWizards on camera right and left. When we saw the glow of the shuttle below the tree line, I took three 30 second exposures at f/8, ISO 800 (without the strobes firing) in immediate succession as the flame trail rose above the horizon. Then I put the camera on timer, turned the Pocket Wizard transmitter on, and ran to be with my family to expose an image of us and watch the last little blip of the shuttle disappear behind a bank of pines to the northeast.

I processed all the files in Lightroom and plopped them on top of eachother using a screen blending mode in PhotoShop. That’s the workaround I use to do multiple exposures since most DSLRs (including the 5D) won’t do them in-camera.

Family portraits are always the hardest for me, so I was overjoyed to get both the shuttle and my ‘ohana in the same frame. As far as the shuttle coming up in exactly the right place, that was a gift. I knew it would come up somewhere in that vicinity, but when I saw it lining up the way it did, I had to stop and give thanks. (via Strobist: Night Shuttle)

This shot of STS-128 is by far my favorite launch picture ever, taken by local photographer Jon Fletcher. It captures so many amazing things about the shuttle program: the unparalleled beauty of a night launch; the human element in what is an intensely complicated technological feat; and the juxtaposition of that technology with the natural, swampy and uniquely Southern environment.

The composition calls to mind old conceptual art, those artists projections of “What will the year 2000 look like?” They’re are fun to look now, all kitsch and silliness with their Jetsons style (where is my flying car???) But this is what 2009 really looked like, the dream brought to life. The photo contains a perfect blend of the same awe and wonder that was present at the beginning of the space program, and the casualness of space travel that was planned for the shuttle program, but didn’t really materialize.

My recent photo and post about STS-1 is still making the rounds here on Tumblr, which is very nice and led me to post Jon’s picture now. It is so unique and intensely personal, and a real treasure for Jon and his family.

This is fantastic.

(I love this. It’s really incredible.) 

The present is the dream of the past.

And imagination can take us…

spaceandstuffidk:

asonlynasacan:

From Retro Space Images on Facebook. Presented without comment. Thanks J.L. for putting this up, as it says it all.

oh good god I can’t do this

What a ride it’s been!

complex34:

nudityandnerdery:

scienceetfiction:

The possible shuttle’s successors, follow the link for detailed infos.

(Thanks to Daniel-Inviere who gave this link in a reblog of one of my posts.)  

Earliest launch date on any of these: 2014, for the Dragon, which is privately owned. The NASA-sponsored programs aren’t offering anything earlier than 2015.

More than likely SpaceX will hit pretty close to their schedule. Especially if they invite me on a tour. (Because I’d be awesome on a tour. Even though I have nothing to offer but drool.)

All of them supercool. 

— KSC Director Robert Cabana

(via janf)

You said it!

(via lightthiscandle)

spaceandstuffidk:

deadmau5forcutie:

Welcome home, Atlantis. 

Our journey may have ended, but never stop exploring, my friends. 

(Screenshots via NASA’s live broadcast - As it happened)

NASA FANDOM CRYFEST 2011 2.0

Do not cry, for we continue.