Live on CNN: Shuttle Atlantis lands safely in Florida

[krispos42]

On time, smooth as silk. Good job, boys, and welcome back!

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/09/21/space.shuttle.ap/index.html

<on edit: added link>

[Kutjara]

1. You beat me to it! :)

I watch them all come in, and it's still as exhilirating as when I watched the Apollo missions as a kid. Nothing about manned spaceflight can ever be boring.

Welcome home!

[krispos42]

5. I was not quite ten when Challenger exploded

My 4th grade glass was interrupted by another 4th grade teacher, Miss Cousins, who came into the classroom and spoke quietly to my teacher, Mrs. Fontaine. Mrs. Fontaine then went up to the head of the class and said "The space shuttle just blew up." Just like that.

Then she plugged in the old TV on the rolling stand and we tried to get some news in on the rabbit ears. I don't we think the picture came in to well.

Since then, I'm always a sucker whenever we launch or land something.

Hell, I stayed up until 6am watching PBS live as Voyager 2 cruised past Neptune back in 1989. Voyager 2, with a 4-hour speed-of-light lag, was transmitting pictures back to NASA, which was displaying them on PBS as soon as they were received. I think a couple of astronomers were hosting, but I just remember being among the first people on Earth to see these awesome pictures from an alien planet billions of miles away.

What is totally amazing is that Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are still working! They were launched shortly after I was born, and they're still transmitting scientific data back across 9.3 billion miles.

[Xipe Totec]

2. Oh good, I can start breathing again.

:bounce:

[magellan]

3. Hear, hear!

Nicely done, welcome home!

We saw the space station go past first, too. We hadn't seen it since we lived in the UK. What a thrill!

[Chipper Chat]

4. Yippee

[onehandle]

6. Good. nt

[leftyladyfrommo]

7. Yeah!