NASA Tweetup, Part 3- Endeavour

This deserves it's own entry. 

Now, those of you who know me, know that one thing I was so sad I never got while the shuttle was in service, was a really good picture of me with the shuttle in the background. I had been anticipating the tour since the day I found out I was selected and the main reason was that the VAB being a tour stop meant it was highly likely we would see the shuttle inside. At this time, all the shuttles are in the process of being decommissioned, therefore they have been rotating in and out, and I knew Endeavour was in there currently.


Stop 1: Vehicle Assembly Building 


First, a quick background on the Vehicle Assembly Building, a.k.a. VAB. It was originally built to assemble the Saturn V rocket. This means it is HUGE. According to it's Wikipedia page:

 "The VAB is 526 feet (160.3 m) tall, 716 feet (218.2 m) long and 518 feet (157.9 m) wide. It covers 8 acres (3 ha), and encloses 129,428,000 cubic feet (3,665,000 m³) of space."

Take a minute to digest that. Now, the tour guide on our bus told us that when we walked in to keep walking because everybody stops when they first walk in because they are so amazed by the size of it. So, we unload and my heart is pounding, and in we go. 

It is impossible to control the jaw drop when you first enter. This building is like a nerd cathedral. I felt like dropping to my knees and crying. I don't think there is any way to accurately describe this building- all I know is that when I looked up, I got dizzy. It was almost like the feeling you get when you are really high up, but in reverse.

So next, we got to walk through the building. It was almost haunting in a sense, it was so empty. Banners with well wishes to previous shuttle missions, a wall with the signatures of all the ex-employees, mission emblems, all adorned the "walls" as we walked through. Then we get to the end of the hallway and turn left, and there she is. 

Endeavour. 

First, a backstory. Endeavour and I were not the best of friends before this day. Last year she toyed with my emotions when I went out to see her launch at 4:30 in the morning, just to have her scrub around T-5 minutes. This year, I got to see her launch, but she went up into the clouds within seconds and disappeared, so I resigned to the fact that Endeavour just wasn't ever going to be as dear to me as Atlantis, or my absolute favorite, Discovery. But Endeavour definitely redeemed herself. 

Even sitting there all torn apart, she had this grace about her, she was so stoic. Kind of like an apprentice who had fulfilled the expectations of their teacher, and exceeded them as well. The baby of the fleet, sitting there in front of me, I felt like she was grinning at me, as if to tell me, "Hey, you didn't think I was really going to let you down, did you?". I was speechless. I even have it on video! There is no other way to be. How else can you feel when you are sitting in front of one of the most profound pieces of American history? To know that only a handful of people will ever get this kind of encounter with a shuttle, I felt so, so very honored. 

They gave us a half an hour in the VAB. It felt like 5 minutes. Soon, they were rounding us up to head back out to the bus. As I backed away from Endeavour, I blew her a kiss. I don't care what other people think of me, although, this group would be the last of anyone to judge my actions. Endeavour earned her special place in my memories.

I did get some pictures in front of her, I then snapped away with my DSLR, but unfortunately, I lost all of the pictures I took up until I was walking out of the VAB. I will say this, the room Endeavour sat in was tiny compared to the rest of the VAB. Think of a bathroom in a mansion. That was the scale. 

On the way out, they showed us the wall where the ex-shuttle workers had signed. So many signatures, so many jobs lost. My wish for these people, is that our fellow citizens stop and reflect on just how dedicated these people were to their jobs. I know many people think they could have easily walked knowing the end was coming, but these are specialists, and these shuttles are their babies. To walk out on them before their time was through would have been an injustice. Each and every one of us should hope for the same thing out of a career for ourselves, as it was and forever will be their passion. I will leave it at that, as my opinions are not what this is about. 

I will say though, my most sincere thanks to all of the workers, the crews and the shuttles Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, and of course to the lost crew and shuttles Columbia and Challenger. 

A dream of mine has been fulfilled, I could have been finished there and been satisfied with my NASA Tweetup experience. But they had way more in store for us...