Hasta La Gadget!

We all know that the space shuttle fleet has been retired and the remaining space shuttles are making their way to various museums around the country where they will be displayed for posterity. Space shuttle Endeavour is making its way to the California Science Center soon. People in Los Angeles were excited until they learned recently that for the space shuttle to make it down some LA streets, trees had to fall.

I think most people have probably never seen a space shuttle up close and personal. They are gigantic and need a huge amount of clearance to make it down a city street. The final 12 miles of Endeavour’s journey will be made through the streets of South Los Angeles. The journey will include a two-day parade, an overnight stay in Inglewood, and undoubtedly some massive traffic jams.

Recently some people in South LA aren’t so excited about the space shuttle making it strip to its final resting place through their neighborhoods. The residents of South LA recently learned that 400 trees would need to be chop down so the space shuttle can make its way down the street. I didn’t even know there were 400 trees in South LA.

City work crews have been out in the neighborhoods chopping down trees to clear the final hurdles to Endeavour’s new home. However, it’s worth noting that the trees chopped down the clear the space shuttle will be replaced. The California Science Center has agreed to replant twice as many trees along the route as it cuts down. Some residents don’t think that’s good enough. Apparently, some of the trees that will be cut down are old and it can take literally a lifetime for the new trees to grow as large.

[via LA Times]

South LA residents mourn timber cut to clear space shuttle fly-by is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
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It’s a story that we hoped we’d never have to report. Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on Earth’s Moon, has died at the age of 82 after complications from heart surgery three weeks earlier. His greatest accomplishment very nearly speaks for itself — along with help from fellow NASA astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, he changed the landscape of space exploration through a set of footprints. It’s still important to stress his accomplishments both before and after the historic Apollo 11 flight, though. He was instrumental to the Gemini and X-series test programs in the years before Apollo, and followed his moonshot with roles in teaching aerospace engineering as well as investigating the Apollo 13 and Space Shuttle Challenger incidents. What more can we say? Although he only spent a very small portion of his life beyond Earth’s atmosphere, he’s still widely considered the greatest space hero in the US, if not the world, and inspired a whole generation of astronauts. We’ll miss him.

[Image credit: NASA Apollo Archive]

Filed under: Transportation, Science, Alt

Pioneering astronaut Neil Armstrong dies at 82 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today’s a stupendous day for lovers of the one and only National Aeronautics Space Administration — nearly half as great as when we took you inside Kennedy Space Center shortly after it had opened its fascinating doors to the public. At any rate, Google announced earlier that its captivating (and sometimes troubling) Street View technology had made its way into NASA’s KSC, allowing people to check out what the compound is all about and what sort of sensational machinery lies inside. With Mountain View’s doings, you can now find your way around different spots within the Space Center, including the Launch Firing Room, Vehicle Assembly Building and, as seen above, the Space Shuttle Launch Pad. There’s a video past the break if you’re interested in a quick preview, otherwise you can give it a go yourself by clicking the more coverage link below.

Continue reading Google takes one giant leap: now lets you Street View the Kennedy Space Center

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets, Science, Internet

Google takes one giant leap: now lets you Street View the Kennedy Space Center originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Aug 2012 16:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Space Shuttle—a wonder of American innovation. Except now the program is dead, and these behemoths are no longer making treks into the great unknown. But that doesn’t make the sight of them any less awe-inspiring. More »

At the dawn of the Space Shuttle program, NASA’s Launch Control Center (LCC) was placed off limits for public tours. On June 15, however, busses embellished with Kennedy Space Center (KSC) decals began whisking visitors off to the control complex for the first time in more than three decades – nearly a year after the final shuttle mission last summer.

After clearing a security checkpoint, our bus wheels its way deep into Kennedy Space Center, NASA’s 240,000-acre property on Merritt Island, Fla., that doubles as a wildlife refuge. The monolithic Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) comes into view and grows larger as we approach. Referred to by NASA employees as the heart of the operation, the VAB houses spacecraft as they’re pieced together. Once complete, a 6-million-pound crawler-transporter sidles up to the structure, gets fitted with the craft and ferries it over a gravel roadway to the launch pad 3.4 miles away. The LCC, which staff dubbed the brains of the system, is adjoined to the VAB by a slim corridor protruding from its boxy, white exterior.

Continue reading Inside NASA’s Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center

Filed under: Science

Inside NASA’s Launch Control Center at Kennedy Space Center originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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