STS-2 BBC TV Launch Coverage

Clip of the BBC-TV coverage of the launch of STS-2 - recorded in November 1981. This segment starts at T-6 minutes thru SRB SEP

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• STS-2
• Shuttle
• Space
• NASA
• Columbia
• Launch
• BBC-TV
• BBC
• rocket
• engle
• truly
• 1981

[ceredigio]

Any clips of the subsequent BBC news reports of the launch?

[lunarmodule5]

Hi ceredigio - I have loads of the subsequent reports. I didnt think there was much call for it - people tend to want the Apollo stuff - I will have to see what I can do.

[NazarovVv]

The fuel tank looks so much better white! It a sad thing the shuttle will go, I'll miss it even thought I am not a very big fan of the program as a whole.

[lunarmodule5]

@NazarovVv Yep....And back then I think a lot of us took quite a long time to get used to the brown tank.....now, of course, its the norm !

[NazarovVv]

@lunarmodule5 Isn't the brown tank unpainted, or is it just a lighter paint? I think i've read ir somewhere that the weight was the issue with the color.

[lunarmodule5]

@NazarovVv Yeah it was a weight issue. Leaving it unpainted saved approx 600lb (270 KG). The tank isn't "painted" in a brown paint. The insulating foam thats sprayed onto the skin of the tank is brown in colour. Hope that clears that up!

[rumbleforce2]

It's so sad that the program is ending. 5 fights until retirement . We will miss the shuttle very much.

[ceredigio]

@lunarmodule5 Although the roll programme call is not heard here, it was given, I know this by hearing the flight director's loop, it is also heard on the NASA documentary of the flight.

[ceredigio]

@lunarmodule5 I'm just interested to see how the TV news here in the UK reported on launches subsequently. I'm sure more viewers generally tended to watch the (primetime) news than the live coverage.

[toddi1971]

@SenyorPony They will rent space in a russian sojus.

[thenekom]

I've watched the shuttle program all of my life, but I was a little too young to ever hear that call life: Negative seats. Oh how I'll miss the shuttle.

[RingSight91]

@spacegeek5 Every pound costs $10,000 in Launch Cost. Being 600 lbs lighter isn't anything to sneeze at, and any true spacegeek should know that.

[SenyorPony]

so whats gonna happen after the space shuttle ends like how will they get to space?

[posada432]

I am somewhat happy to see it go. SpaceX's new rockets are very exciting and they are working much faster than the new super-slow NASA

[spacegeek5]

@NazarovVv IT does look better white and losing 600 pounds with orange wont even effect it