OT - NO POLITICS Off Topic 2020 part XXI - Punxsutawney Phil says EARLY SPRING!!!!! ( We are doomed )

[Bruinaura]

Some of the responses though

 

[Bruinaura]

I just got a picture of my stepbrother's new baby in the blanket I made for him

I'm having a particularly bad night and this made me feel better

 

[Alicat]

I just got a picture of my stepbrother's new baby in the blanket I made for him

I'm having a particularly bad night and this made me feel better

View attachment 313469

So precious. Gorgeous blanket.

 

[Aussie Bruin]

It seems silly since they were essentially all the same, but Discovery was my favorite.

I have seen the Discovery shuttle. It is at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia next to the Dulles International Airport near DC. It is amazing and I highly recommend going to see it. They also haven't cleaned it up too much so you can see how it has been banged up a bit from going to and from space. There's a bunch of other cool NASA equipment and all sorts of planes there too.

The main museum in Washington itself that most people go to is also really good, but the Chantilly one is just a whole extra level of awesome.

 

[Bruinaura]

We used to go on field trips to the Air and Space Museum when I was in middle and high school in the 80s. It was not complete unless you came back with the uber-cool space ice cream

I'd love to go back to the museum and also see the shuttle. I could easily spend a day looking at everything.

 

[Alicat]

We used to go on field trips to the Air and Space Museum when I was in middle and high school in the 80s. It was not complete unless you came back with the uber-cool space ice cream

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I'd love to go back to the museum and also see the shuttle. I could easily spend a day looking at everything.

I got to go to NASA back in 2001 and standing on one of the platforms to get a look at one of the shuttles was incredible. They didn’t have the space ice cream but they did have dippin dots ice cream. So good.

 

[Bruinaura]

I got to go to NASA back in 2001 and standing on one of the platforms to get a look at one of the shuttles was incredible. They didn’t have the space ice cream but they did have dippin dots ice cream. So good.

That would have been amazing. I'd have loved to have seen a launch in person.

 

[Alicat]

That would have been amazing. I'd have loved to have seen a launch in person.

We were there as they were prepping for the Atlantis mission (I had to look it up. We were there in early July 2001) so our guide was pointing out the various equipment trucks working to stock the shuttle and complete the final maintenance on it.

I’ll dig around to see if I can find a few photos from the launch pad.

Sadly after 9/11 they stopped offering the behind the scenes tours

 

[Fenway]

I was working in Chicago when the Challenger happened.

2 days before was Super Bowl XX and for 2 weeks I felt like I was the only Patriots fan in Chicagoland happily wearing my Berry The Bears shirt that someone had sent me. I am also embarrassed to admit I helped distribute the Patriots video that was supposed to be our answer to the Super Bowl Shuffle.

The video was the brainchild of Morgan White Jr.



The only good memory of Super Bowl XX was this ingenious segment by NBC



The day the Challenger lifted off was the Bears parade and it was bitterly cold in Chicago ( below zero ) so to escape watching the parade I put on CNN

 

[Bruinaura]

I was working in Chicago when the Challenger happened.

2 days before was Super Bowl XX and for 2 weeks I felt like I was the only Patriots fan in Chicagoland happily wearing my Berry The Bears shirt that someone had sent me. I am also embarrassed to admit I helped distribute the Patriots video that was supposed to be our answer to the Super Bowl Shuffle.

The video was the brainchild of Morgan White Jr.



The only good memory of Super Bowl XX was this ingenious segment by NBC

This story should be chapter 329 in your book.

 

[Aeroforce]

Both space shuttle tragedies were devastating locally. All the astronauts trained in town at Johnson Space Center, and it's also where mission control is located. So many people knew someone firsthand affiliated with the space program. Any activity I did as a kid, there were always kids whose parents worked at NASA.

In 1986, I was taking oceanography as my elective in high school. My teacher was friends with and attended church with Ron McNair, the astronaut who was going to play saxophone from space. She had memorabilia of him adorning her classroom weeks prior, as the launch was rescheduled multiple times.

So we sat in her classroom watching in disbelief.

The most tragic part of the disaster to me brings back memories of that day in class. A student asked the teacher if there were any survivors. She answered somewhat incredulously, "How could anyone survive that explosion?"

It was just common sense, wasn't it?

Sadly, it wasn't.

The Challenger didn't explode; its fuel tank did. The Challenger broke apart. It was the impact with the ocean that the astronauts couldn't survive. It's possible they lost consciousness due to inadequate cabin pressure. But it's ominous some crew members had activated their emergency oxygen masks.

 

[Fenway]

My last sunrise in Aruba ( I shall return )

 

[Kovi]

We mentioned Aruba as a possible destination for our 1st wedding anniversary....

 

[BMC]

I just got a picture of my stepbrother's new baby in the blanket I made for him

I'm having a particularly bad night and this made me feel better

View attachment 313469

I hope you are doing better today

 

[BMC]

We were there as they were prepping for the Atlantis mission (I had to look it up. We were there in early July 2001) so our guide was pointing out the various equipment trucks working to stock the shuttle and complete the final maintenance on it.

I’ll dig around to see if I can find a few photos from the launch pad.

Sadly after 9/11 they stopped offering the behind the scenes tours

When I was a kid we went to Kennedy Space Center as part of our vacation. The tour bus took us out to Pad 39A where Apollo 14 was being prepped for its flight. We were allowed to get out and look up. I can't begin to describe the massiveness of that rocket (363 feet tall) or of the launch pad itself. The technicians working on it looked like ants in comparison.

Then we went back to KSC. On our way out we noticed a bunch of people crowded around some kind of display that had no signs or anything explaining what it was. It turned out to be a moon rock- it was inside a glass globe attached to a stand. It was small with dark & light gray coloring. Amazing.

I was in heaven as I had been a space geek since watching my first launch on TV in 1968. I still am and hope to go back to KSC for a launch & also visit Johnson Space Center in Texas.

 

[ODAAT]

My last sunrise in Aruba ( I shall return )

Looks rough, sorry you had such a horrid morning view

39 sleeps til Barbados, looking forward to mornings/evenings such as this

 

[Glove Malfunction]

Went back and watched video of one of Discovery's landings. It's amazing, you watch it gliding down and even though the person says how fast they are traveling, it doesn't seem like it. Then you hear the double sonic booms. Then more gliding, then the landing gear kicks down less than 30 seconds before touchdown. Which makes me wonder what the contingency was if they ever had a landing gear malfunction. It's not like that thing was a fighter jet that could just circle around again. I guess just belly flop and hope for the best?

They were amazing pieces of machinery though.

In 1981 we moved to SoCal, just East of Edwards AFB, where the shuttle landed its first several flights, due to the extremely long extended runway. I don't remember if it was the first landing, or just one of the first handful, but I was watching it on the news, ran outside and could see this tiny speck - but I knew what it was. I was enthralled from that point on.

 

[Glove Malfunction]

I had an Oscar puppet when I was a kid. My brother said it was appropriate.

I have no idea what he meant by that.

We didn't have puppets, but we had stuffed toys from Sesame Street, delivered by Santa. This was in 1976, when we lived in Podunk, AZ, so my mom ordered a lot via the Sears or JC Penney catalog. One the the characters was on back order, so, wanting to make sure we both got one, she ordered an extra. So on Christmas morning, I got a Snufflupagus, my brother got Oscar the Grouch, and much to our amazement, Santa brought my mom a Grover.

This was probably 1976, so I was still believing that my stuffed animals shared human characteristics, so I gave my Snufflupagus a haircut, thinking his hair would grow back. Needless to say, he had a butch cut from that point forward.

 

[Bruinaura]

I need to rewatch Apollo 13. One of my all-time favorite movies.

It still gives me anxiety even though I know how it turns out.

I'm fascinated by how they had to MacGyver the air filter, and by how very little power they had available to make it home. Knowing it's a true story makes it even more amazing.

I sometimes get stressed out driving four miles home from work.

 

[Ladyfan]

We mentioned Aruba as a possible destination for our 1st wedding anniversary....

Grand Cayman and Barbados are nice too !

 

[Glove Malfunction]

I have seen the Discovery shuttle. It is at the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia next to the Dulles International Airport near DC. It is amazing and I highly recommend going to see it. They also haven't cleaned it up too much so you can see how it has been banged up a bit from going to and from space. There's a bunch of other cool NASA equipment and all sorts of planes there too.

The main museum in Washington itself that most people go to is also really good, but the Chantilly one is just a whole extra level of awesome.

I went to that one too, when my oldest went to Nationals in 2011, in VA. Was so super cool. Being an aviator, I could spend days looking at all those planes.

 

[Glove Malfunction]

Grand Cayman and Barbados are nice too !

Her minister boss is from Barbados, and I've been several times with the Navy, on the way to Ascension Island, so we've talked about going there and visiting his mom's bread shop. I have technically been to Grand Cayman, but only to stop for fuel after finding and surveilling a suspected drug boat for hours. So, I've seen the island from above, the ramp at night, and they were nice enough to escort us into the terminal so we could use the bathroom. Seeing more than that might be nice!

 

[Fenway]

 

[BMC]

I need to rewatch Apollo 13. One of my all-time favorite movies.

It still gives me anxiety even though I know how it turns out.

I'm fascinated by how they had to MacGyver the air filter, and by how very little power they had available to make it home. Knowing it's a true story makes it even more amazing.

I sometimes get stressed out driving four miles home from work.

I love that movie. Have you seen HBO's series From The Earth To The Moon? Tom Hanks produced it IIRC

 

[Terrier]

I need to rewatch Apollo 13. One of my all-time favorite movies.

It still gives me anxiety even though I know how it turns out.

I'm fascinated by how they had to MacGyver the air filter, and by how very little power they had available to make it home. Knowing it's a true story makes it even more amazing.

I sometimes get stressed out driving four miles home from work.

Loved that movie as well, one of my favorites.