Any Space/NASA Geeks?

Hey all.

I hate to admit it but I was 10 when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and have been interested in NASA/space exploration ever since. But us collectors are a small bunch. As a collector, for me it's the mission patches. And I have been collecting them for well over 20 years now.

So I'm wondering if any other X owners, being the highly educated people you are, were interested in space stuff.

-G

I just play with ham radio satellites and talk to the astronauts on the IIS... and I like to watch apollo 13. But thats about it.

Oh and I toured JPL and thought it was awesome.
and I wanted to go into robotics and build space craft when I was younger.
and I watched the news every morning when the mars rover landed.
and and and..


but other than that.. nope..

Went to and photographed the second to the last Shuttle launch.

Nice pics.

Thanks. It was an awesome event.

Great pics, Carlton! I'm jealous!

Although I've followed this since I was a kid (age given above), and still do to this day, I've never seen a launch. I've come close a couple of times, but timing has never been right. Would love to see one (and feel from what I hear).

Where were you when you took the pics? Looks like the north end of Cocoa Beach or maybe Titusville with a long lens?

-G

I've seen 2 space shuttle launches. Took pics of one launch but it was too dark and I didn't really know how to use my new camera, pics didn't come out. Been to Cape Canaveral museum and visitors center. I was deploying with the National Guard when the space shuttle blew. We were headed to Ft. Bliss for training, and we actually saw glowing pieces of debris falling from it. Debris was landing all over Tx. The feds were telling local law enforcement to stop all buses, RVs, large commercial vehicles. Our chartered bus got stopped 2 times. At first they thought the shuttle was a terrorist act, possibly related to 911.

When I was a kid I watched everything space related. I bugged my parents daily to buy me those vanilla and chocolate flavored sticks endorsed by NASA, I wish I could remember what they were actually called. Anyone remember those? They said the astronauts ate them. I drank Tang and Ovaltine, which NASA also endorsed. I thought it would all make me into either a space explorer or at least a test pilot. But I ended up with poor eyesight and can't do math! I still read Popular Mechanics and Popular Science, everything I see regarding space exploration, astronomy, etc.

I got tickets to the causeway (still 7 miles away) and was using a 300mm 2.8 with a 1.4x teleconverter. Both images are uncropped.

Camera was a Nikon D300s

Still awesome pics. I was pretty close on the location. I'd love to see a launch sometime. It's on my bucket list.

Any other collectors out there?

Sorry to revive such an old post...
Definitely a big NASA/astronomy nut here. My wife and I have member passes at Kennedy to get to the good observation areas. If work's not crazy I'm usually out with the telescope at least a few nights a week.