Welcome to Reach for the Stars
Past trips to Huntsville.
There have been requests for photos from past trips to Huntsville. They are still online. Here are the links.
Greetings from Huntsville.
The photos are up!
January 19, 2013 - Science Saturdays are Happening
This years participants have begun their exploration of how things fly. Currently they are in the middle of constructing hot air balloons. Next step: building and flying balsa airplanes.
The next Science Saturday gathering will take place on February 16, 2013 from 1:00 to 4:00 at Matthews Park Community Center.
Silent Auction Scheduled for Saturday, March 16
Reach for the Stars will be hosting the MAC Launch XVII Silent Auction on Saturday, March 16 at St. Frances Cabrini Church, 1500 Franklin Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414
November 2, 2012 - Atlantis Moves to its New Home
Space Shuttle Atlantis was moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to it's new display area in the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. It stopped for a few hours at Exploration Park where Peter was able to spend a few hours with the orbiter as it stood gleaming in the Florida sunshine for the last time before moving indoors. From there the RFTS President went back to the Visitor Center and found himself in a room with over forty astronauts including six of the twelve men who have walked on the moon, an original Mercury astronaut, the first American to walk in space and the LM pilot from Apollo 13. What an afternoon!
September 24, 2012 - Endeavor Makes the Final Flight of the Space Shuttle Program aboard the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft
Space shuttle Endeavor has arrived in Los Angeles. This was the last time a shuttle would take the skies. Soon it will be towed to its new home at the California Science Museum. On November 2nd, Atlantis will be towed to its new display area at the Kennedy Space Center. Now it is time to move forward and Reach for the Stars is eager to see who is interested the future of the Manned Space Flight Program.
May 17, 2011 - New Shuttle Launch Page
We've added a new page to share our shuttle launch experiences.
MAC Launch XVI was a successs!
The photos are up!
STS-134 Launches on May 16th! We were there!
The final launch of the space shuttle Endeavor took place on Monday, May 16th at 8:56 a.m. EDT. Andy and Peter were there, watching from a vantage point on the NASA Causeway at the Kennedy Space Center. The view was magnificent just 6.5 miles from Launch Complex 39A. The arrival time before dawn afforded a beautiful display of four planets hanging above the eastern horizon, awaiting the sun. It rose on time about 20 minutes later. The countdown proceeded almost without a glitch. The closeout crew discovered some tile damage around the hatch but quickly repaired it. The excitement built as Shuttle Launch Director Mike Leinbach polled his team for their Go/No Go decisions. There were no constraints. The crowd cheered and joined in the count from T-10 seconds and cheered as the skies lit up with the incandescent light of the Solid Rocket Booster(SRB)s.
There is no way to capture the quality of the light from those engines. It is nearly too bright to look at directly and it is difficult to comprehend how much power is being displayed as this vehicle weighing four and a half million pounds at launch rockets toward the clouds where it disappeared 20 seconds after leaving the pad. The sound took 45 seconds to reach us. We stood there, cheering as the intense reverberations like one continuous crackling explosion washed over us. Take the best 4th of July Grand Finale, amplify it by a brazillion and you might come close to the sight and sound of a space shuttle launch. There will only be one more and we plan to be there.
MAC Launch XV is one for the record books!
The photos are up!
Click here to go to the Site.STS-127 and STS-128 Photos.
Peter and Agnes were the official MAC Launch delegates to the Inter-Galactic-Planetary-Orbital-Send-Off Committee (IGPOSO?) for the launch STS-127 and STS-128, or something like that. Be sure to check-out the photos!
Click here for the STS-127 Photos.
Click here for the STS-128 Photos.
MAC Launch XIV was a Success.
Our MAC Launch site includes pictures from our week at Space Camp!
Click here to go to the Site.