Finally! It was yet again an awesome launch, perfect weather, but a HUGE crowd. The drive back to Orlando, normally a 1 hour drive, took over 5 hours. But, of course it was worth it. Edited on my iPad. Oh, how I wish there was a version of Aperture for the iPad. Erich
Great shot Erich, I was so glad to see it finally go up. ; One more for sure, then hopefully another and it is all done, at least as far as NASA is concerned. ; I thought I had seen somewhere that they were thinking about "leasing" it to private use. ; Have you heard anything further on this?
Did you get to go over to the coast to see it from closer than Orlando? They are definitely going to launch Atlantis again, so 2 more launches. Leasing the shuttle? Not sure who said that, but it's impossible, even if they wanted to do it. For now, it's buying seats from the Russians for the forseeable future. Erich
I thought I saw it on Channel 13 news one day. ; I didn't get to get over there, I have been busy working on purchasing a house. ; We have signed a contract, and I have been a busy bee working with the lender and getting them all of the paperwork that they need for a mortgage approval nowadays. ; Boy that is a lot of work.
Simply awesome, Erich. ; I so wish I could get down there for one of the last two launches. ; The next one is scheduled for just a few days after I return home from WDW. ;
Thanks all. It was seriously cool. We didn't get to hear it as much as I have in the past, because we ended up being fairly close to a portable generator they use to power the coolers and grills, and the idiots didn't turn them off before the launch. Still loud, but not as much as it should have been. Dennis, hasn't that happened to you in the past? You just need to miss your flight home by a few days. ; Erich
Wow. Just, wow. Being from the Left Coast, this is one of those things I can only experience through y'all. Good shot!
You talked me into it. ; I just registered for the STS-134 ticket lottery. ; If I win, I'll stay a couple of extra days. ; Hmmm, what lens should I rent?
Just checked the schedule and no launches around Pixelmania ; :'( Looks like I may never get a chance to see an STS launch -- I tried for the early AM launch a few years ago, but it was postponed until after we left FL. Regards, Boris
As big as you can afford and carry. My photos are with a 300mm , 2x teleconverter, and a 1.5 DX camera, and the photo is cropped. Also, I use a polarizer, which I think makes a big difference, as the viewing angle is pretty close to 90 degrees off the sun. I've since read estimates that there were 250,000 people watching the launch around the whole area. And they expect 500k for the next one and double that for the last one! Yikes!!! Erich
If Tim could pull that one off as a PM2K11 Surprise, it would be the most awesome PixelMania EVER!!!... (We can all wish, can't we?)
