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Kennedy Space Center

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Sunrise comes to the Kennedy Space Center the morning of May 16th as Endeavour gets ready for its final launch. Shot from across the Indian river.
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Sunrise comes to the Kennedy Space Center the morning of May 16th as Endeavour gets ready for its final launch. Shot from across the Indian river.

  • Pegasus. This is the barge that is used to transport the large orange tank. It comes from New Orleans via this barge through a bunch of canals, across the Gulf of Mexico, around the southern tip of Florida, through a bunch of other canals, and then into the cape.
  • Rocket garden at sunset.
  • Rocket garden at sunset.
  • Took this shot from the observation gantry. It is truly amazing how much wildlife there is around the Kennedy Space Center. They really do a marvellous job of stustaining the environment while launching things into space.
  • Kennedy Space Center has several eagles nest on property. Here is one of the adults sitting very close to the nest. The babies were quite large but had not learned to fly yet so mother and father hang around until they learn. They come back every year to the same nest to lay more eggs.
  • These are the baby eagles. The nest is that huge pile of wood on the lower right. Sorry about the quality of the shot but we had to shoot through the bus window!
  • Endeavour on the launch pad. Shot this a few weeks before the launch. The RSS (Rotating Service Structure) still surrounds Endeavour so you can't see it. Notice the "scars" on the orange tank. This tank has a few nicknames including "The Katrina Tank". The tank was sitting in the assembly facility in New Orleans when Katrina hit and the building collapsed around it. The scars (lighter orange) that you see are areas where the tank was repaired and the difference in color is because that is newer insulation than the rest. The color gets a deeper orange the longer it sits in the sun, it kind of gets a sun tan so the newer areas are lighter.
  • Another shot of Endeavour on Pad 39A a few weeks before its succesful launch.
  • View of the Vehicle Assembly Building from across the Indian river. Took this shot while we waited for Endeavour to launch on its final mission.
  • Shot of Endeavour on launch pad 39A from across the Indian river the night before its final launch into orbit.
  • View just before sunrise from across the Indian river of Kennedy Space Center. The beam of lights are shinning on Space Shuttle Endeavour the morning of its final launch to the International Space Center. You can see the Vehicle Assembly Building on the right side.
  • Sunrise comes to the Kennedy Space Center the morning of May 16th as Endeavour gets ready for its final launch. Shot from across the Indian river.
  • IGNITION! The steam starts to rise as Endeavour starts its final launch.
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  • LIFT OFF of Space Shuttle Endeavour on its final launch on May 16, 2011.
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  • We had some pretty low cloud cover the morning of the launch so we did not get to see the full climb, but it was still incredible to watch!
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