I lived in USSR back then. STS-5 start was on the day after comrade Leonid Iljitch Brezhnev's death. I was sick at home and angry because all TV and Radio channels broadcasted funeral music only for a full 24h before death was announced. It was finnish TV where we saw the launch as Soviets were in complete funeral mood.
@callmeadmin I was just a teenager and had hopped a Greyhound bus down to Florida to watch this launch. While I was down there, I ran into an old friend from the 6th grade. As we were waiting for the launch, we heard on the radio about Brezhnev's death and that the Soviet military was on high alert. After the launch, we sat and watched a dozen nuke subs sail out of Port Canaveral. I remember wondering if I would make it back home alive or whether home would be there if I did.
I wish that for the final Space Shutle Mission, they'd let Gene Kranz be the Flight Director at Mission Control in Houston at the Johnson Space Center, for old times sake, as well as let Hugh Harris do the countdown from KSC in Florida.
I wish that for the very last Space Shuttle Launch, they'd let the true voice of Shuttle Launch Control, Hugh Harris do the countdown on the Public Address System t the Kennedy Space Center, I heard that Hugh was still working for NASA in some form, but it would be good if he could do the countdown for the last Shuttle Launch though.
I was all for the shuttle when i was a kid. Had I been an adult when this mission went off I would be like "this thing is WAY to expensive to be launching satellites!"
Its sad that it took till almost to the END of the shuttles life span before we got the thing it was meant to fly to up....the space station.
Certainly a big improvement over these stupid phrases and attempted babbling poetry we get from the likes of Rob Navias today isn't it? Although I don't know if he needed to be marking the time every 5 seconds.
The shot you see of the engines starting with the steam rolling out in front is actually from a causeway a couple miles directly south of the pad. THe other one you see for most of the ascent is from a camera mount on a beach access road southeast of the pad about 2 miles.
I love the opening shot..from camera UCS-9 north of the pad from the back..they never use it anymore but it is such a unique view. This STS-5 was a very pretty early morning launch, although the Houston PAO doesn't need to yap every 5 seconds.
I lived in USSR back then. STS-5 start was on the day after comrade Leonid Iljitch Brezhnev's death. I was sick at home and angry because all TV and Radio channels broadcasted funeral music only for a full 24h before death was announced. It was finnish TV where we saw the launch as Soviets were in complete funeral mood.
callmeadmin 7 months ago
@callmeadmin I was just a teenager and had hopped a Greyhound bus down to Florida to watch this launch. While I was down there, I ran into an old friend from the 6th grade. As we were waiting for the launch, we heard on the radio about Brezhnev's death and that the Soviet military was on high alert. After the launch, we sat and watched a dozen nuke subs sail out of Port Canaveral. I remember wondering if I would make it back home alive or whether home would be there if I did.
airdriver 4 months ago
I wish that for the final Space Shutle Mission, they'd let Gene Kranz be the Flight Director at Mission Control in Houston at the Johnson Space Center, for old times sake, as well as let Hugh Harris do the countdown from KSC in Florida.
Kjr0se 2 years ago 5
I agree Kjr=se but I learned that John McLeash is dead some years ago. :(
Franciszek64 2 years ago
LCC Commentator: Hugh Harris
MCC Commentator: John McLeaish
chellysell 2 years ago
I wish that for the very last Space Shuttle Launch, they'd let the true voice of Shuttle Launch Control, Hugh Harris do the countdown on the Public Address System t the Kennedy Space Center, I heard that Hugh was still working for NASA in some form, but it would be good if he could do the countdown for the last Shuttle Launch though.
Kjr0se 2 years ago 2
I think President Obama is trying to push the Space Shuttle Program beyond 2010 to 2011, so the Space Shuttle might fly in 2011 as well.
Kjr0se 2 years ago
it is very likely.
There are six space shuttle flights scheduled for 2010 so it is going to be a busy year
joachim2464 2 years ago
I was all for the shuttle when i was a kid. Had I been an adult when this mission went off I would be like "this thing is WAY to expensive to be launching satellites!"
Its sad that it took till almost to the END of the shuttles life span before we got the thing it was meant to fly to up....the space station.
Zoomer30 3 years ago
The space station wasn't even proposed until 1984. The shuttle started flights in 1981.
RJY4356 3 years ago
The shot at 2:22 is from an airborne chase plane.
RJY4356 3 years ago
Just LOVE McLeaish's commentating style!
WojciechSz 3 years ago
Certainly a big improvement over these stupid phrases and attempted babbling poetry we get from the likes of Rob Navias today isn't it? Although I don't know if he needed to be marking the time every 5 seconds.
RJY4356 3 years ago 2
John McLeaish--Houston PAO. He died not too long ago
BigBill783 4 years ago
I didn't know that used the old apollo tracking cameras for the early shuttle launches
uwtitanfan 4 years ago
The shot you see of the engines starting with the steam rolling out in front is actually from a causeway a couple miles directly south of the pad. THe other one you see for most of the ascent is from a camera mount on a beach access road southeast of the pad about 2 miles.
RJY4356 4 years ago
I love the opening shot..from camera UCS-9 north of the pad from the back..they never use it anymore but it is such a unique view. This STS-5 was a very pretty early morning launch, although the Houston PAO doesn't need to yap every 5 seconds.
RJY4356 4 years ago