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AlderaanDuran  ·  4015 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Live Feed of SpaceX Launch [Updated w/ Press Release and Gallery]  ·  x 2

You're missing out, personally I love them and find them so inspirational. Perhaps you've already seen some of the stuff I'm going to ramble about below, but maybe others will find it interesting. :)

Some of the final shuttle launches almost brought me to tears, even though I think it was right to retire it and move onto something else, and long over due. It was just kind of sad, because the space shuttle was such a huge focus of my whole life, and is what got me into space/astronomy as a hobby.

Last Shuttle Launch: STS-135

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

Did you watch the Curiosity rover landing? While not a launch, it was pretty amazing, and they broadcasted it live in the middle of the night. The night of the Curiosity rover landing, no joke, I teared up a bit and had to choke back some tears. When they finally announced the landing was successful and said "Wheels down on Mars", and everyone in the control room lost it, I couldn't help but feel happy for them and humans in general.

An Overview of the landing, so that the second video make sense, and you can get an understanding of how complicated a landing this was. Atmospheric breaking, parachute deploy, powered flight, sky crane dropping it onto the surface... just so many things that could have failed but didn't.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2I8AoB1xgU

The Landing: A little dry at first, but keep in mind every thing they are seeing is 14 minutes behind. So the probe had already landed and was safe before they even got confirmation it was entering the atmosphere. It goes through cruise stage separation, atmospheric breaking, parachute deploy, powered flight, and then the sky crane landing, and then they even got pictures right away, which they weren't expecting because they weren't sure if the other probe in orbit would still be in line of site to transmit (they use it like a relay). I linked to a point in the video that starts at the atmosphere entry phase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v...

Depending on how old you are, you'll get to see NASA/SpaceX or SOMEONE land people on Mars. The things these people do, from launches, to landings, it just amazes and inspires me. Just imagine what it's going to take to put people, supplies, and vehicles onto Mars. Personally, I'm going to completely lose my shit.

I <3 space exploration.