Astronaut Byron Lichtenberg in training, late 1970s.
7/24/82: “Astronaut Thomas K. Mattingly autographs pictures of the space shuttle Columbia for flag-toting youngsters at Harborplace.”
TK is clearly thinking, “That lady is NOT a flag-toting youngster.”
Photos of an April 1981 preflight STS-1 meeting with the prime crew, John Young and Bob Crippen, and the backup crew, Joe Engle and Dick Truly.
The STS-1 crew during their preflight breakfast, 4/10/81. Their launch was later postponed to April 12.
(Source)
11/14/81: “This spectacular shot of the underside of the Space Shuttle Columbia was taken from the primary photo chase plane by astronaut Kathryn Sullivan, Ph.D. Astronaut Robert Gibson, lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy, piloted the T-38…Note the trailing wingtip cortex off each wingtip.”
STS-1.
From Collectspace, a 1983 photo of the first four shuttle crews.
This picture is flawless.
janf:
March 11, 2009
“A nearly full Moon sets as the space shuttle Discovery sits atop Launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 11, 2009.”
Photo credit: NASA/Bill Inglais.
To continue the NASA armadillo posts here’s the thermadillo from STS-3. The tail showed the relative position of the orbiter to the sun.
So my godfather used to be an astronaut.
When I was younger, this patch here was my favorite possession for a while. He gave it to me during a rare visit, and I got to meet one of his fellow mission crew members. In between when this patch was given to me and when STS-113 actually took off, my godfather got in a motorcycle accident and broke his back. He’s recovered now, but it meant he couldn’t go on the mission.
What this leaves me with is an Alternate History Space Mission Patch.
The STS-113 That Could Have Been.
For reference, here is what the official patch looks like:
Wow. Thank you for sharing this.
