Boy Scouts Hoped Shuttle Discovery Would Have Launched

[fgoodwin]

Boy Scouts Hoped Shuttle Discovery Would Have Launched

 

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5105676

 

July 2, 2006, 05:49 PM

Reported by Anabel Marquez

McAllen

 

Space shuttle Discovery is on the launch pad in Florida. But it isn't going anywhere.

 

As people waited to see the discovery's lift-off Saturday, NASA officials called off the expedition due to bad weather.

 

In the Valley, members of McAllen Boy Scout Troop 7 gathered at one of the boy scouts' houses to watch the launch.

 

They were excited about Astronaut Michael Fossum, a former Eagle Scout from their troop - leap into space.

 

"It's just such a small world that he gets to go to space for a certain amount of days," said Star Scout Jerrod Prater.

 

Jonathan Weisfield-Hinojosa added: "I feel excited cause I've never really seen a space shuttle go up."

 

And fellow Boy Scout Raghuveer Puttagunta said, "It's someone that came from my background, that's from the Valley, from my experiences, he's from a local council- Troop seven."

 

But about ten minutes before the scheduled launch, the announcement was made to cancel the lift-off.

 

And that was something that made Scout Hayden Prater feel especially disappointed.

 

"I feel depressed," he stated. "I was hoping to see it for my birthday 'cause it's my birthday today. I'm really bummed out."

 

Hayden Prater said Fossum is his role model.

 

"Seeing him where he is and how high he is, in his job right now, I could see myself there one day."

 

Scoutmaster Marty Martin said even with the postponement, the boy scouts won't miss the event. He said they would gather again.

 

"We're going to try to do it again tomorrow," Martin said. "I know it's 4th of July weekend and everybody has plans but we're going to try one more time."

[OneHour]

My family and I saw the launch of STS-121 Discovery on NASA Johnson Space Center's IMAX screen yesterday afternoon, along with a couple hundred of folks. It was fantastic ... and it provided us with the ultimate "rockets' red glare" for the 4th as Commander Steve Lindsey elluded to prior to the launch.

 

Godspeeds astronaut Mike Fossum and the entire crew of STS-121. Wish y'all a successful mission and a safe return.

[baden]

I am happy to hear about some Scouts showing interest in Space Flight. When I was a "ute we watched the manned space launches in school on black and white TV. I remember being very interested in it. When Alan Shepard and John Glenn went up they were like rock stars. Now the astronauts are sort of ho-hum to the kids.

 

John Glenn did a promo for Scouting in the early '60's. I remember seeing a poster with Col. Glenn witha Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and an Explorer. Something about Go for Roundup.

 

There have been many postings in the past about the number of BSA alumni in the ranks of the Astronauts.

[GernBlansten]

Having been on Cape Caneveral Air Force base during a Titan IV launch, and standing 2 miles from the pad, its a very impressive sight to see. I'm sure many of dreams were launched with those scouts.

[SR540Beaver]

My son left for Northern Tier last Friday morning. We got to talk to him a couple of times on the phone on their drive up north. One of the things he wanted to know was if the shuttle had taken off as scheduled. We told him no, that it had been postponed. July 4th rolls around and I'm flipping thru the HD channels my cable company provides and low and behold, they've added a new channel called HDnet and they are covering the launch live in HD. I set the DVR so he can have a treat watching it lift off when he gets home next week. It was quite impressive.

 

Baden, I too remember watching those black and white lift-off's in school. I was born in May 1957. Sputnik was launched in October 1957. So, like many Americans, I have grown up with space travel and still find it fascinating.

[acco40]

Who remembers Walter Cronkite with those model "props" of the Gemini and Apollo capsules and explaining to the audience what was taking place. Beave, I got you beat by a year ('56) and vividly remember the Gemini and Apollo launches and have faint memories of Shepard, Grissom and Glenn. The early flights were cool because they would go up and a little while longer, come down!

 

Last night, right at 10:00 PM Jupiter was just on top of the moon on a crystal clear night when the shuttle came streaming buy. You could see it with the naked eye very easily.

 

Been reading "Riding Rockets (The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut)" by Michael Mullane one of the TFNGs. I highly recommend it.

[SR540Beaver]

I can't tell you how many times I've watched "The Right Stuff", "Apollo 13" and HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon". All outstanding.

[fgoodwin]

I was born in 1954; sadly, I don't recall any of the Mercury launches.

 

But I was in the 4th grade by the time of the Gemini launches and I never missed a blast-off. My 4th grade teacher would wheel-in a portable TV and we would watch the launches in class!

 

And whatever happened to Jules Bergman, science reporter for ABC?

 

I had models of the X-15, Gemini, Apollo, and the Saturn V. I had a moon map, posters of the planets, star charts, and rocket posters on my walls.

 

Did any of you guys ever collect "NASA Facts"? These were freebie publications about the space program. NASA sent them out by the ton, with color pictures of the earth and the astronauts, and slick, color booklets of the various satellites and space probes. I also had stuff from the Army's Redstone Arsenal, and the Air Force's X-15 program (and "Project Blue Book" about flying saucers!).

 

We even had a club at my grade school we called "NASA Jr." We launched model rockets in the summertime and I had my own 3" refractor telesciope.

 

Man, those were the days . . .

[acco40]

My closet was a rocketship. I was lucky, my dad worked for Boeing during the X-15 heyday and I got some cool models. He worked with the ALSAP (ALSEP?) training package of (Bendix, Ann Arbor MI) training some of the Apollo astronauts (no he wasn't a big wig at all). Sadly, knew the ones who got roasted (pure oxygen in the cockpit, how stupid). He brought home a life size cardboard mock-up of either the Apollo or LEM control panel which my brother and I put in our closet (our spaceship).

 

Those were the days!

[FScouter]

Born in 52, I do remember the Alan Shepard flight, which was a milestone at the time though not even a complete orbit, but when John Glenn did THREE COMPLETE ORBITS, that was really big stuff. At school, we watched the blast-offs (thats what they called a launch back then) of all the Gemini launches. I had several notebooks full of NASA Facts, plus X-15 and X-B70 stuff. My mom threw it all out along with my baseball card collection including Ernie Banks, rookie of the year.

[OneHour]

Welcome back STS-121! Congratulations on a successful mission and a safe return!