The Midweek Review--Whats UP in Air and Space? TALL SHOULDERS! Spaceflight is tremendously exciting but it isnt easy and wont be for a long time. Look carefully at the two pictures. The one on the top shows the Samuel Oschin Endeavour Display Pavilion moments before we opened Endeavours payload bay doors using two cranes along with ground support equipment that NASA provided (these are the yellow pieces of hardware in the picture). It took weeks to prepare for this day and the total concentration of our team. The picture on the bottom shows all of the scaffolding to support Endeavour in the Orbiter Processing Facility at the Kennedy Space Center and hints at the investment that any nation must provide to have a vigorous space program. It took hundreds of men and women months to prepare a shuttle for a 10-day flight. 30 years. 135 missions. We know were standing on tall shoulders. Thanks again, NASA, for your confidence in the California Science Center and for the award of Endeavour! Were Go for Payload! Dr. Ken Phillips, Curator for Aerospace Science
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 01:35:28 +0000