For the spaced out.

[canuguzzi]

Looking for something else I came across some older pics. I was lucky enough to see the final shuttle of the shuttle as it passed over the Golden Gate. Cell phone picture. The small jet is a F22 Raptor. I was fortunate enough to also shoot a nice video.

In the last pic you can barely make out the 747 as it heads south. Look in the right 1/3 and 1/2 up in the pic.

Enjoy.

[brlawson]

In working here at Marshal Space Flight Center we got to see this on several occasions. This stuff never gets old.

A few months back we got to watch the super guppy bring in the SLS cryogenic tank for testing. Also, got to see the Hubble telescope get packed in this very plane. It is a sight to watch this thing take off.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasamarshall/sets/72157643017660125/



And can't forget this jewel. Drive by it on my way to and from work.

[kingoffleece]

VERY cool pics.  Thx

[PJPR01]

Cool pics indeed...

Pity Houston did not get a shuttle here...we just have a mockup ...oh well.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  In the first set of pictures two aircraft are mating.
  The post after that shows an aircraft knocked up.

[canuguzzi]

  In the first set of pictures two aircraft are mating.
  The post after that shows an aircraft knocked up.

Itbwas glorious to watch. I had a Honda Sabre at the time, rare beasts in theirnown right but there was another rider there with one.

Anyway, the 747 came from behind us from oceanside, we were on a hill looking toward the Golden Gate. Hoardes of people. Then the 747 and shuttle roar overhead with that very agile F22 dancing around.

It made a big loop, over the south bay I think and then came out right over the Golden Gate. No one said a word, just gawked.

It banked toward the south with the Raptor in trail. When it was finally out of sight, it was just quiet as people walked away. Something very special to see.

[wymple]

To this day I find it mind numbing that they can set off a booster that is somewhere around 26 stories tall and weighs 85 tons EMPTY, and 650 tons full of fuel. And they will push a satellite up to 25,000 mph, burning 6k pounds of fuel per second. That is over 4X as fast as any high caliber bullet. One of our satellites on re-entry was trucking right at 29,000 mph. Men tend to think big. What they did hitting that comet with the Deep impact probe the  size of a dishwasher in a 267 million mile shot at a target doing 6.5 miles per second is really beyond normal comprehension. I have a world of respect for scientists and engineers. Even Luigi......

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Well Luigi may be a distant relative of that other Italian from hundreds of years ago.
  Leonard  somebody or other was about the finest mind of his or maybe any age.  He designed helicopters before anyone even heard the word.  He invented the principle on which the parachute works, and a host of other wonders.

[Muzz]

  Well Luigi may be a distant relative of that other Italian from hundreds of years ago.
  Leonard  somebody or other was about the finest mind of his or maybe any age.  He designed helicopters before anyone even heard the word.  He invented the principle on which the parachute works, and a host of other wonders.

Just this last week Jim I went to an exhibition in our local Christchurch Museum showing models of Leonardo's work, made from his drawings. it truly was a fascinating, and dare I say awe inspiring experience. The man was a genius way before his time.

[tris]

To this day I find it mind numbing that they can set off a booster that is somewhere around 26 stories tall and weighs 85 tons EMPTY, and 650 tons full of fuel. And they will push a satellite up to 25,000 mph, burning 6k pounds of fuel per second. That is over 4X as fast as any high caliber bullet. One of our satellites on re-entry was trucking right at 29,000 mph. Men tend to think big. What they did hitting that comet with the Deep impact probe the  size of a dishwasher in a 267 million mile shot at a target doing 6.5 miles per second is really beyond normal comprehension. I have a world of respect for scientists and engineers. Even Luigi......

It monumentally pi$$e$$ me off how little regard many people have for Engineers (at least in the UK).
The people closest to me are teachers, hairdressers and the like and enjoy ribbing me about being an Engineer.
The don't appear to understand that without Engineers - of all walks - they still be living in caves and killing cows with a rock 

Err ..... Mini Rant Over

[Shorty]

It monumentally pi$$e$$ me off how little regard many people have for Engineers (at least in the UK).
The people closest to me are teachers, hairdressers and the like and enjoy ribbing me about being an Engineer.
The don't appear to understand that without Engineers - of all walks - they still be living in caves and killing cows with a rock 

Err ..... Mini Rant Over

I know that we aircraft mechanics have cursed your names a few times.............. .      

[normzone]

" The don't appear to understand that without Engineers - of all walks - they still be living in caves and killing cows with a rock "

Yeah, that first engineering feat of putting the rock on the end of a stick was critical.

No, really, it was. It all follows from there.