Space Shuttle Atlantis Launch Videos

It’s been over 30 years since I carried lunch to school with a Space Shuttle Enterprise Lunch Box, but the launch videos are still incredibly exciting to watch. This is an HD video of Atlantis‘ second to last mission STS-129. (Kudos to the commentator for using the term penultimate.)

Today, Atlantis launched on it’s final voyage. Here’s the video:

Sad to see it go without a viable replacement. I never saw a launch in person, but I did see Columbia cruising by like star in the night sky once. Also saw Challenger on the launch pad a week or so before the disaster because we happened to be in Florida that week.

A couple other relics from the Shuttle Age are my IBM ThinkPad 760XD, one of the first modern laptops certified for long-term space flight. I logged many hours on this machine coding away at the Guggenheim, but it is sadly defunct. I’m hoping I still have the Space Shuttle Operators Manual somewhere in storage. It is full of delicious schematics and checklists.

So enjoy Atlantis‘ last mission before heading off to museum life. Discovery and Endeavour are scheduled for their last missions in September 2010. Hopefully, they enjoy a better retired life than the Soviet Buran shuttles. (Google for a fascinating diversion…)