Kennedy Space Center / Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

[Joe Copalman]

OV-105 at rest in Orbiter Processing Facility 2.  The OPFs are where teams from United Space Alliance receive the shuttle upon its return and turn it around in preparation for its next flight.  Endeavour is scheduled to fly its final mission, and the final mission of the shuttle program, as STS-134, scheduled for a mid-November launch at the earliest.

[Joe Copalman]

Atlantis all buttoned up at Launch Complex 39A as it awaits its final flight as STS-132, scheduled to launch on May 14th.

[Joe Copalman]

Firing console in the blockhouse at Launch Complex 5/6.  Red arrow pointing to the button that sent Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom up on their suborbital flights. 

[Joe Copalman]

Bays for the main engines on Endeavour. 

[Joe Copalman]

Tiles on Endeavour's nose showing re-entry marks.  To the far left is the nose cone made of reinforced carbon-carbon, and in the upper left are two tiles that have already been replaced.

[jslugman]

She looks "rode hard and put up wet". Great image Joe.

[Joe Copalman]

Launch Complex 34, the scene of the launchpad fire that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chafee.

[Joe Copalman]

Another Pad 34 shot - seems to sum up the current administration's approach to manned spaceflight:

[wingsnstuff]

I was amazed at how many items were laying around with "Abandoned In Place" stenciled on them.  Some of the stuff that was still serviceable looked like they should have been abandoned in place.  The salt air down there really plays havoc on anything metal. Nice shots Joe. 

Did you get any shots of the "Walker's Feet" (the corner tracks)? 
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Did you get to see the launch?

[Chris Janes]

Sad to see the shuttle program end. I remember staying up til 3 am as a kid to watch Columbia blast-off on the programs first launch. Seems back then there was a sense of great pride in being on top of the world and not accepting second place. Now we just dumb ourselves down.

[Joe Copalman]

What the underside of a space shuttle looks like:


Endeavour in Orbiter Processing Facility 2, being prepped for STS-134.

[Joe Copalman]

[Jay Beckman]

Unique angle on that Joe...

The only reason I miss going to Daytona anymore is the fact that I don't get my annual two days off in Florida in February.   

[Joe Copalman]

Crawler that moved Atlantis to Pad 39A for its final mission last year.

[Joe Copalman]

FAILURE WAS NOT AN OPTION

Firing Room 4 at the Launch Control Center.  Been sandbagging this one for a while, largely because it just sort of bums me out.