Space Shuttle, we have a problem...you suck!

One of the cool things about having a brother in law in the Air Force is access to Cape Canaveral. This past Saturday there was supposed to be a space shuttle launch, so my brother in law, Matt, his sister, Katherine, and I wanted to go and see it, considering this will be one of the last launches since the shuttle is being discontinued soon. Anyway, the launch was scheduled for 7AM, meaning we had to wake up at 4:45 in order to leave by 5:30 to make it to base an hour early to get our premo seats at the Cape. Well, after dragging myself out of bed and the BC of D, we found out the launch was "scrubbed" because of a leak. So since we were all awake already, we went to the Cape anyway and Matt gave us an awesome tour. We got to climb through some cool stuff and explore an abandoned launch building (I forgot the technical term for it). However, as a history nerd, it was especially rewarding to see the launch pads for the very first space flight missions, and the place where the Challenger is buried (or at least its speculated location). What really shocked me though was that some of these really historically important places were totally dilapidated. When I asked Matt why none of these places were preserved better, he told me that one of the first things to get cut in the AF budget was funding for, "historical crap". Nice. We rounded out the day on Matt's friend's sailboat on the Bananna River. I saw at least 5 manatee's in the docks at the Marina, and by the end of the sailing trip, my face had morphed into one giant freckle. It was fun though....I love boats!

Yesterday, we heard the launch had been rescheduled for today at 5:40 AM. Being the dedicated nerds we are, we decided to wake up at 3:30 to make it to base to see the launch. And, after I went to bed at 9:45 PM ( probably for the first time since 3rd grade) and woke up, got dressed, and was all ready for the launch, we found out the launch was scrubbed AGAIN. Complete wakkie nu nu! I mean, don't get me wrong, I am glad that the astronauts won't get hurt from whatever keeps malfunctioning, but come on! That's why you suck, space shuttle.

Here's some pictures from our Cape tour:

The lighthouse

Inside one of the giant old launch sites

Me and Matt on the other side of the launch thingy. It was gross becuase there was a dead vulture down below us that ran into some powerlines...sick!

Launch place where the Apollo I fire happened, killing all three astronauts.

An underground escape hatch in case you got sealed inside the launch building. It was pitch black inside of this place, and all we had were 3 flashlights to look around.

1970 called...they want their launch computer back. After a while of being in this room, my lungs started to hurt. I probably inhaled asbestos. Oh well!

Yelling into the void

Pile of suck! (aka unlaunched shuttle)