Shuttle Launch June 8 on HD-NET !

[long_time_DNC]

Animated shuttle launches...hmm...that might get some kids interested.

I also remember watching the Mercury, Gemini and early Apollo launches before we finally got a color TV. Seeing that huge Apollo rocket just sit there belching enormous amounts of flame and smoke before it finally begain to slowly lift off the launch pad was simply amazing. I would've loved to have seen one of those launches in-person!

The shuttle sits there briefly while the shuttles engines get going, but when those solid rocket booster light, it's immediately off the pad and screaming towards space. What is it, 18 minutes from liftoff to initial orbit now? That's hauling!

Has anyone here seen a shuttle launch in-person?

 

[kstuart]

Has anyone here seen a shuttle launch in-person?

Richard King (who is a mod at DBS Talk) lives walking distance. He used to live in Minneapolis (as a recording engineer, for, at one point, Prince) and got so sick of the snow that he moved to Florida.

 

[n0qcu]

Has anyone here seen a shuttle launch in-person?

Yes

 

[long_time_DNC]

What's it like?

 

[cebbigh]

I grew up in South Florida during the 60's but never got to watch a launch in person. Don't know how that happened because I've always been a nut about space exploration. In a roundabout way I think thats why I prefer dish over cable. Something wonderful and mysterious about about pointing a dish at the sky and getting direct connection to a satellite.

 

[ripnbigc]

Never saw a shuttle launch, but my dad was stationed at Patrick AFB '68-'71, saw some Apollo launches from my surfboard, twenty miles away it still looked and sounded awesome!!!

 

[kstuart]

Still go for launch today !

Coverage starts at 6pm EDT on channel 9422 in HD, and all day on NASA channel - channel 213 in SD.

 

[long_time_DNC]

It was a spectacular launch! And Greg Dobbs has absolutely no clue as to most of what he's babbling about or when to just shut up and let the viewers enjoy it...

 

[dfergie]

I'm watching the Nasa select version as we speak...(to get what Dobbs covered up)

 

[long_time_DNC]

Wanted to see it in HD, but Dobbs just couldn't shut up...

 

[dfergie]

He did... the last minute and thirty seconds he actually shut up thanks HD Net for listening to all the forums...(but the Nasa background audio was missing)

 

[long_time_DNC]

That's what killed me! At T-5:00 he says "we'll be quiet now so you can hear NASA..." and then proceeds to yak until T-1:34!

 

[dfergie]

I recorded both and watched the Nasa version from t-2 till tank sep after the HDNet coverage ended...

 

[goaliebob99]

Unfortunatly I couldnt see this one in hd, but from what I saw with the nasa web feed it looked like a beauty

 

[kstuart]

The coverage on HD-Net was "interesting".... because it was so low-brow.

The assumption was that Joe Six-Pack had just happened to tune to HD-Net at 7pm ET, and that Joe has barely heard of space.

It's an odd assumption... there is no channel that shows baseball, and during the game, explains why there are 4 bases, and what the pitcher is supposed to do, and so forth. Instead, the idea is that if you are a "newbie", you'll either like it or not, and then learn more on your own.

But instead HD-Net acts like we are clueless, and assigns a clueless guy to cover the launch. He actually thought that the main engines are not turned on very much at the start, because the solid rockets make more smoke !

Earth to HD-Net - anyone who is making a point, in 2007, of tuning to an HD channel to see a launch is a geek ! All the other channels showed the launch live (even CNBC), so casual viewers were not tuning to HD-Net...

 

[dfergie]

Vergy good assessement of the coverage.., by this time at least the HD Net viewers should have a clue.... come on... I have been following space launch's since Mercury...

 

[ripnbigc]

But man did it look awesome in HD!

 

[gadgtfreek]

First one I ever watched in HD and loved it. I also agree that the guy needed to shut it.

 

[tsduke]

That was awesome in HD! Sure wish someone would have cut the feed to Dobbs mic!

 

[long_time_DNC]

I have to agree, Dobbs was talking like the viewers were space neophites. It was irritating and condescending. His constant jabbering about stuff and then Gemar would correct him...it was...embarrasing...is probably the best word for it. "The solid rocket booster separation is necessary and desirable." Please... No, reallly, I think they should haul those puppies into orbit with them just for kicks and giggles! Sheesh...duhhhh.

Then the tank sep: "Any moment now, we'll see those triangle-shaped brackets blast away and then it'll appear that the shuttle is actually rising up away from the tank when it's actually on a straight-line trajectory." Gemar then corrects him by saying that the shuttle actually does pitch up and away from the fuel tank.

The tank is actually on a ballistic trajectory...the shuttle has manuvering jets.

Sad...just sad stuff. Leave Gemar and get rid of Dobbs, please?