Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Blast Off!!!

About a month ago, the Shah's invited Sam and I to join them last Thursday to watch Space Shuttle Discovery lift off.  We left at 5:30 a.m. and headed over to the Space Coast, where we explored the Kennedy Space Center, before chartering out to the causeway for the launch.

 The hubster's were in heaven.  We affectionately call them our COOL NERDS!

 Could you imagine this as your TOTAL living area while in space?



 Or Imagine living in this........
 Replica of the command center

Anlon BEFORE entering the Space Center

and AFTER

 Of course, now the living area is much larger.

Once we arrived at the causeway, we sought out the best available viewing area.  There was an estimated 17,000 people there and I am pretty sure 15,000 of them had a SUPER, DUPER ZOOM LENS.......Okay, that is a stretch, but there were a lot.

 Unfortunately, my zoom lens is WEAK SAUCE, so this is as close as I could get (and it's cropped).  However, I am just glad to have any photos to commerate such an AWESOME experience. 


We had a few hours to wait on the causeway, before launch time, but it was a beautiful day, so the time passed quickly.  We were six miles from the launch pad, but NASA and KENNEDY SPACE CENTER does a wonderful job of making you feel you are closer.  
They have a sound system with speakers throughout the viewing area that is a continuous feed of the command center talking back and forth with the shuttle work crew, as they are clearing the shuttle for take off.  This is a long process, obviously, as everything has to be PERFECT!!!!
About 5 minutes prior to take off, there was a HOLD............OH NO?!?!  Thankfully, the problem was fixed and DISCOVERYwas cleared for launch about 1 minute before the scheduled launch time.  

The announcer and our bus driver had walked us through what to expect prior to BLAST OFF, so once we heard, "We're CLEAR" everyone stood up and began yelling and cheering.  I was so excited!!!!

4, 3, 2, 1.............








 At this point I was so EMOTIONAL.  I just kept thinking about how I can not fathom the "BIGNESS" of our GOD.   And they, the astronauts were on their way to see just another small part of HIS Creation!  




 In a matter of minutes, the announcer came over the loud speaker and said, "Space Shuttle Discovery is over the Indian Ocean."  WOW!!

I will never forget the experience.  There are only two scheduled space shuttle launches left, before government funding is stopped..........so if you have the opportunity to attend one of the final launches I would recommend it.

Thanks to the SHAH's for taking us along.

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I am linking up to SuperMom, Live and Love Out Loud, Seven Clown Circus, Better In Bulk, and Ramble Road {Ramblings}

19 comments:

katy said...

That is SO COOL Amber! Weak sauce lens or not, you got some great photos! This reminded me of Thunder of Louisville on steroids, waiting and waiting for an awesome moment. :) It looks like you had great weather too, I am just a tad jealous! :)

Rebecca said...

WOW! Looks like several homeschool bloggy friends were there! Hate we missed that historic event. Your pictures, though, I think are the BEST! Stopping by and loving your blog from iFellowship!

momsmustardseeds.blogspot.com

Nate and Molly said...

those are THE coolest pictures! what an incredible experience!

Katie Perdue said...

amber- i've been following your blog via Ann Voskamp's blog, and love it! What a great post- and great pictures. When I was in middle school my dad took me to NASA to see a rocket launch so I cannot imagine what its like to see a shuttle launch. Thanks so much for sharing!

Carrie said...

Soooooo cool!!! :) I showed the boys your pictures and they were fascinated. I have always wanted to watch a space shuttle launch. It is amazing how quickly they were over the Indian Ocean - WOW!!!

Also, I sooo identify with Lens Envy!! :) Lol. One day, my friend...well, maybe, anyways. :)

Ashley Sisk said...

Absolutely incredible - I love how you captured the entire event!

Mandy@ a sorta fairytale said...

Wow!! What a cool experience! I'm a little jealous :)
Love the photos you took, you documented it so well!

Theresa said...

How exciting! You really got some great shots too. Happy iFellowship Day :)

Renee said...

Fun pics! I'm visiting with iFellowship from Doorkeeper at http://reneeannsmith.com/. You've got a great site!

Discovery School at First Baptist Heath said...

Awesome shots!!! way to go!! I too dream of the mambo lenses.. someday maybe.. I would only use it once or twice a year!

Kindra said...

Your pictures turned out really great! And I love how you chronicled our time there. The pictures of our cool nerds are great too - and I love the before and after of our Spudling. I put our tickets in his babybook so we can tell him about it one day :) I'm so glad ya'll joined us!!!

Adrienne said...

what an awesome experience! Seriously this has got to be once in a life time amazing thing to watch! Thank you for sharing!

Katie Perdue said...

...i know i already posted a comment once, but i have to tell you- you've inspired me. we're making the road trip from NC to FL for the June 28 launch!

elizabeth said...

great shots - how cool to watch it isn't it?
You can never tire of it !!!

Anonymous said...

These are great photos! What a neat experience!

Jaymi said...

amazing, what a cool thing to get to see!

Brooke said...

Wow! What an experience!!

Amanda said...

Fun times! Glad you got to see it and your photos are so good (even if you didn't have the mac-daddy super zoom lens!) I'm completely jealous of the beautiful days you all are having in Florida. I am over this KY winter! :)

Shannon said...

I'm so beyond jealous! What wonderful photos!