I recall one clear Winter morning years ago being on the top floor of a tall building in Atlanta, looking south at launch time and clearly seeing the plume. Nobody believes me.

A few weeks ago I received a Powerpoint display of Space Shuttle Discovery images taken close up as it's prepared for a launch. The images really show the massive scale of engineering required behind the shuttle. It's something as Americans and citizens of the planet we can all be proud of. You can download the Powerpoint file here. If you don't have Powerpoint you can download a free viewer at Microsoft. When viewing the file, hit space bar for the next image and escape to quit. The file is 3mb, so please take it easy on my bandwidth. Save it to disk and view as often as you like.

Wow, thanks Fletch! Those are some great photos and an amazing slide show. I didn't know they attached the payload bay at the launch pad.

When I was a kid we took a tour of the KSC including the VAB (in the slideshow it's called the Vertical Assembly Building, but I always thought it was the Vehicle Assembly Building - maybe they changed it?). Anyway, I remember the tour guide saying it was so tall and big and open that clouds and rain could form inside.

Hey, I love discussions of space travel, and while I agree the shuttle had a certain kind of beauty and nobility, it takes someone who never cared about Apollo 8 to really be a big fan of space shuttles. (If you have to ask what was so special about Apollo 8, then I can’t help you.) Still, once upon a time there was no greater supporter of NASA than I.
I even applied for a Journalist-In-Space flight once, but my enthusiasm for NASA has crashed and burned since those days. Not because I was cast out of the running so early. Not because of Challenger or Columbia. And not because I no longer believe in space travel.
Rather, it’s because I believe in space travel more than NASA itself.
I mention all this because I long ago concluded the space shuttle was a disaster that reduced us to studying the effects of weightlessness on fruit flies.
As I wrote in 2002, "It’s startling to realize that as early as 1970 this nation had the capacity to conquer the solar system. In conquering the moon we built working prototypes of all the major hardware to conquer the heavens.
"We had a heavy launch vehicle--the Saturn V rocket--with the potential to send large payloads anywhere in the solar system. We had a true in-space vehicle--the lunar module--built only to operate in the vacuum of space and the low-gravity of the moon. We had a space station--Skylab, built from a hollowed out rocket shell--as roomy as the International Space Station now under construction. We even had a moon car tootling around on the lunar surface that no doubt would have worked on Mars with a few adjustments.
Total cost of all the above: about $35 billion.
For $35 billion we had the technology to explore and lay claim to worlds. By adding incrementally to such technology and making gradual improvements we might have planted a flag on Mars by now.
Instead, since going to the moon, our nation has spent more than 10 times as much as that cost, and all we’ve done, basically, is to chase our own tails in low earth orbit, thanks to the space shuttle.
Once upon a time, the idea of a reusable space shuttle seemed like a good option. The shuttle would make it possible to build a way-station to the moon and planets, said the proponents. It would make it possible to mine the asteroids one day and put tourists in space. It would be cheap and easy to operate.
Unfortunately, the shuttle was riddled with cost overruns, lapses in judgment and downsizing in mission goals.
To be sure, a handful of missions have been dazzling successes. Who is not awed and inspired by pictures from the Hubble showing us the universe when it was young?
On the other hand, who doesn’t believe we could have achieved much more--with pre-shuttle rocket technology improved gradually over time? I miss Apollo far more than I'll miss the shuttle.

Great info there, R. I'm just glad they will be continuing the space program.

Great powerpoint pics, fletch. Thanks for sharing.

"We have lift off!"

Don, then you'll like the Ares V. NASA says it can lift a payload of more than 286,000 pounds, which is even more than the Saturn V at 260,000 pounds.

And I agree that the U.S. space program peaked with Apollo, although the Shuttle and the space stations and building in low earth orbit are turning out to be the stepping stones for exploring the solar system.

Stepping stones? Maybe. I'd say more like stumbling blocks. The shuttle was supposed to save money but it didn't. It became a black hole of money and it limited us to a few hundred miles high--while Apollo allowed us to send astronauts 250,000 miles distant--beyond the moon--and really, those Saturn V rockets could've gone anywhere. Mothballing that amazing fleet of capsules, cars, rockets and space dwellings was a disaster. In going the Ares route, NASA is returning to that simpler Apollo technology. I understand the new moon capsules will actually splash down.

I think I was born about 200 years too early. You guys ever checked out Robert Zubrin's books?

Thanks for making space travel a topic, Randy, I hasten to add. It's not always the most popular notion, especially among progressives, and I'm appreciative to anyone who calls attention to the bold new plan, one thing I'd give Bush credit for... if I trusted his team not to militarize it outrageously. I think the view of earth from space made many of us aware of the singular beauty of this planet and the need to preserve and protect it. It helped shape my world view for sure. Nice addition to your fantastic site.

Hmmmm, I'm thrilled by Rutan's efforts, still $200,000's a bit pricey for me. Maybe when my (space) ship comes in....

Zubrin, eh? Which would you reccomend? I'm an old Heinlein, Clarke, Bradbury, Philip K. Dick fan. Guess Zubrin came along after I put science fiction on the back shelf.

Zubrin, eh? Which would you reccomend? I'm an old Heinlein, Clarke, Bradbury, Philip K. Dick fan.

For a second there I thought the conversation changed to beer. Still have our Heinlein, Clarke, Bradbury, D. Adams books but it has been a very long time since one has been read.

Yes, the Space Shuttle is phasing out by 2010 or so. I hope the next phase of space transportation works a bit better and safer. However, let's not negate the good things they have done with the Hubble Space Telescope, and the International Space Station. The accidents have been unfortunate and there have been delays. Good thing we have a space treaty with Russia et al. I am pro-space travel and am eager to see the U S of A land on the moon and get more robots on Mars. Perhaps folks will land on Mars during our lifetimes. I think we will have colonies on the Moon in about twenty years if we get going on it. China is even getting into the space race. We don't want to get there on the Moon and {to paraphrase a column I got published in Bog-Gob Magazine) have the Chinese waiting there with a lunar egg roll stand for our business. Onward and Upward! Foreward HO!