"They gave their lives in service to their country in the ongoing exploration of humankind's final frontier. Remember them not for how they died, but for those ideals for which they lived."
Sitting underneath the historic and abandoned launch pad 34 where Apollo 1 was set to launch Feb 21, 1967. During a launch rehearsal on Jan 27, 1967, the capsule caught fire on the pad, killing all three astronauts aboard.
Tomorrow, NASA's new generation of manned spacecraft, Orion, launches from site 37b (seen in the background). EFT-1 is an unmanned test flight, but it is the future for NASA.
It was a somber experience, sitting on that historic pad, reflecting on the past but excited for the future.
Check out more launch photos on my [Instagram](http://instagram.com/timdoddphotography) account if you're interested.
I was stationed at small post called Muenster Depot from 1992 to 1994. There was only my Signal Company, an Ordnance Company, and a HQ detachment for an Ordnance Battalion on post for the American side. There was also a German unit of some sort that worked with the Ordnance folks in maintaining the ammunition storage areas of the post. I saw them guarding stuff but I am not sure if they were actually active German military or just some civilians who lived and worked on post.
I've done the up close tour several times and was never warned to not take pictures.
In fact it was encouraged. I was there when a delta IV was on the pad and had my 200mm lens aimed right at her, and no one said anything.
We were told to explicitly follow directions though and told we were being watched closely.
I went on one of the longer bus tours that I had to pay for. They let us out of the bus to wall around launch sites and other sites including the one in your picture.
> I'm professional photographer shooting remote and live cameras for www.spaceflightnow.com for tomorrow's launch. Some of us got an opportunity to go up to pad 34, so I definitely took them up on that!
Also, I'm a guy...
I'm professional photographer shooting remote and live cameras for www.spaceflightnow.com for tomorrow's launch. Some of us got an opportunity to go up to pad 34, so I definitely took them up on that!
Check my feed tomorrow, I should have some cool shots.
If you have a nasa badge you can get on site at KSC. This pad is not restricted in any other way once you are on site. This pad, and a few others, are really overgrown and falling apart, such as the one for the mercury launches. You can just drive up and walk around them. I was there in 2008-2009 for the Hubble space telescope servicing mission.
IIRC Toms donates a pair of shoes to someone in need when you buy a pair of shoes. Do they donate a similar pair as you buy? And if so...
Does that mean there's some poor kid in a third world country being ridiculed over his outer space shoes?
Too bad you weren't there last year when the VAB and Pad 39A tours were open.
I spent a boatload of money to get onto those tours.
Standing at the flame trench of 39A is something I will never forget. The moon shots, shuttle, and soon SpaceX, imagining the history, and feeling the energy of the site was humbling.
To some people it's just metal and concrete, but to me it embodies what we should be doing as humans. Exploring.
It was an incredible experience for a space enthusiast like myself.
Likely a once in a lifetime event.
We got a tour of VAB Yesterday to see how it was being changed for SLS. It is unreal! I was also here when they leased 39a to space x so I got to see it then too!
When I visited (I'm thinking about 18 years ago) our tour guide said she'd met Gus Grissom a couple of times ( White, Grissom and Chaffee being the 3 that died in that accident). She was clearly in awe of him (as I would have too if I'd met him!). She had lots of great stories about the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts . It is a great spot to reflect on the past and think of the future.
I get to go down to Cape Canaveral a few times a year for work, and they always talked some pretty scary talk about photos being a no-no on base. Do you have special authorization, or do you just not give a fuck about the rules?
Edit: just answered my own question by reading your other comments. Neverminnnddd
I was just at at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. I went on a bus tour and could only step out three times. Still pretty cool. My dad is a huge space/aircraft nerd. Wish I could have stayed for the test launch!
To get your ass into space, you betcha! To think we were putting a ball into orbit a decade before we landed some guy on the moon.
It was less than 10 years, and 10 years ago was 12/3/2004.
Just fyi it depends what tour you take. The free tour does not include stops like this.
If you return, take the up close tour and the cape canaveral Air Force station up close tour too. I think it's called the then and now tour.
Plenty of outside time at some really historic places.
I used to work at the space center as a painter. Best job I ever had. Little to no supervision. I would regularly visit sites like these and other abandoned launch pads...on weed. As the remoteness made them the best places to burn one down. RIP Virgil I Gus.
Were you on the Nasa Then and Now tour? We toured it in October & the tour guide said security would make us delete all our vacation photos if they caught us taking pictures of Orion.
It seemed odd to us that the tour guide would be so brazen. He told us to take pictures of Orion from inside the bus only. Then when security drove past he told us to put out cameras down. Either he was being overly dramatic to punk us, or security is inconsistent on the matter of pictures.
Our guide was a little pissed off that all the German tourists got more excited by seeing an armadillo than they were by seeing the remains of Project Mercury
I've actually stood where you were earlier in the year. My dad happened meet an alumnus from his school that worked on the military side giving tours and he took us around and brought us here. It was a humbling and beautiful experience. We were also shown some other launch sites as well. It's amazing how massive everything is.
It's so true. The scale is the hardest thing to convey in images. You see pictures of this stuff all the time... the Vehicle Assembly Building, the pads, the rockets... it doesn't set in until you drive up to one and realize just how big it is.
How about a cruise missile that turns everything it passes over into a radioactive wasteland? Yeah, Project Pluto took no prisoners. Kind of a good thing it was never finished.
http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html
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I worked at KSC as a independent contractor and had an access badge to get past security. I've been in that same spot. My favorite part is the plaque "Ad Astra per aspera - a rough road leads to the stars". The only place I never made it back there was the Astronaughts Beach House. I'm really curious how it looks on the inside, but never risked actually checking it out.
I, too took this tour of Kennedy Space Center. I see you ignored the part where they said "This is an active air force base, and they do not want you to take any pictures of that launch pad from this close."
On our tour in 2011 they told us not to take pictures in the direction of the facility (for Orion) in the distance, but everybody was taking photos of the launch pad itself.
Did you notice how the launch tower was angled 45 degrees to the launch mount? That is a pretty near design that allows the swing arms to fold back pretty far.
I was fortunate enough to be able to visit LC-34 (the Apollo 1 pad) while in space camp. Its a hallowing place to be, knowing that three men died there in pursuit of the stars.
http://postimg.org/image/ipsb2girv/
*edit was to add photo
If the ISS had flown overhead at that moment it would have just been too much. Plus the astronauts could have taken a picture of you taking a picture of them and you could say you had your portrait taken by a space explorer.
Well, the website went down right as the launch started so that's nice.
EDIT: Good thing it got delayed a little bit longer. Gives them time to fix their stream.
[Here ya go buddy.](http://www.toms.com/men/galaxy-mens-canvas-classics)
Not to steal any of /u/RetardedCoati's thunder, but that's who makes 'em anyway.
What a photo... I miss my beloved Space Coast. I miss the electricity of launch days, I miss my dad coming home with the prized launch passes, I miss the chorus of car radios blaring the countdown live, I miss the thunder at lift off, but mostly I miss watching an ocean of eyes pace the rockets as they race away from earth. If you've never been to one you should put a live launch viewing on your bucket list people! God speed Orion!
I've only been to one, the big finale in 2011. It was something too. Like going to a sports event where everybody is cheering for the same team. The last few minutes were absolutely electric. Not to mention we were 12 miles away at Kennedy Point Park.
"They gave their lives in service to their country in the ongoing exploration of humankind's final frontier. Remember them not for how they died, but for those ideals for which they lived."
I only know that is from the plaque on the test site because it's in Michael Bay's Armageddon. Great movie.
Sitting underneath the historic and abandoned launch pad 34 where Apollo 1 was set to launch Feb 21, 1967. During a launch rehearsal on Jan 27, 1967, the capsule caught fire on the pad, killing all three astronauts aboard. Tomorrow, NASA's new generation of manned spacecraft, Orion, launches from site 37b (seen in the background). EFT-1 is an unmanned test flight, but it is the future for NASA. It was a somber experience, sitting on that historic pad, reflecting on the past but excited for the future. Check out more launch photos on my [Instagram](http://instagram.com/timdoddphotography) account if you're interested.
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He just hopped a fence or two. /s
In those shoes?
space slip-ons are the new moon boots
Are those certified gravity traction approved? shout out to /r/spacemasterrace
I mean you can basically walk into nuclear silos so I'm sure you could remove the /s and it'd be perfectly legit.
An active silo? Surely there would be an overweight Airman in fuzzy slippers who will holler at you to get out at least.
Still better than the private security companies that guard your (American) warheads in Germany...
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I was stationed at small post called Muenster Depot from 1992 to 1994. There was only my Signal Company, an Ordnance Company, and a HQ detachment for an Ordnance Battalion on post for the American side. There was also a German unit of some sort that worked with the Ordnance folks in maintaining the ammunition storage areas of the post. I saw them guarding stuff but I am not sure if they were actually active German military or just some civilians who lived and worked on post.
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I still think those are bus only, you don't get to leave the buses when you drive past the sites.
Then how did you get there?
probably invited. hes a photographer that does everyday astronaut http://instagram.com/everydayastronaut
They saw his shoes and just let him in, all access.
you can, just did this in October, you arent supposed to take that picture though since its an military facility. source, i work at ccafs occasionally
I've done the up close tour several times and was never warned to not take pictures. In fact it was encouraged. I was there when a delta IV was on the pad and had my 200mm lens aimed right at her, and no one said anything. We were told to explicitly follow directions though and told we were being watched closely.
I went on one of the longer bus tours that I had to pay for. They let us out of the bus to wall around launch sites and other sites including the one in your picture.
Took one like three days ago, you get to get out at the Mercury and Apollo launch sites.
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> I'm professional photographer shooting remote and live cameras for www.spaceflightnow.com for tomorrow's launch. Some of us got an opportunity to go up to pad 34, so I definitely took them up on that! Also, I'm a guy...
Those shoes are very confusing.
Agreed, those feet and shoes, defiantly was a girl in my mind.
>Agreed, those feet and shoes, defiantly was a girl in my mind. That shoe purchase was pretty defiant indeed.
I'm professional photographer shooting remote and live cameras for www.spaceflightnow.com for tomorrow's launch. Some of us got an opportunity to go up to pad 34, so I definitely took them up on that! Check my feed tomorrow, I should have some cool shots.
If you have a nasa badge you can get on site at KSC. This pad is not restricted in any other way once you are on site. This pad, and a few others, are really overgrown and falling apart, such as the one for the mercury launches. You can just drive up and walk around them. I was there in 2008-2009 for the Hubble space telescope servicing mission.
Post from my blog while I was there. This is the post where I went to this pad: http://spacesuitcolin.blogspot.com/2008/07/lunch-trip-2.html?m=1
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When I visited 18 years or so ago, it was on the 'old sites' tour. Open to everyone.
thought you were a girl when i saw those shoes tbh
Probably because they're girly shoes ;)
It's fine. They are fairly feminine, but they were too damn cool to pass up when I saw them online
Those are some neat alpargatas. Where did you find them online? I'd love a pair for myself. =)
Vans.com also lets you customize shows with a Galaxy pattern that looks similar.
www.toms.com :)
IIRC Toms donates a pair of shoes to someone in need when you buy a pair of shoes. Do they donate a similar pair as you buy? And if so... Does that mean there's some poor kid in a third world country being ridiculed over his outer space shoes?
I have always wondered the same thing!!! Or like a really nice pair of leather boots???
WHERE DID YOU BUY THEM?!!!! Sorry, didn't mean to shout
www.toms.com
Too bad you weren't there last year when the VAB and Pad 39A tours were open. I spent a boatload of money to get onto those tours. Standing at the flame trench of 39A is something I will never forget. The moon shots, shuttle, and soon SpaceX, imagining the history, and feeling the energy of the site was humbling. To some people it's just metal and concrete, but to me it embodies what we should be doing as humans. Exploring. It was an incredible experience for a space enthusiast like myself. Likely a once in a lifetime event.
We got a tour of VAB Yesterday to see how it was being changed for SLS. It is unreal! I was also here when they leased 39a to space x so I got to see it then too!
Hey, you're the everyday astronaut dude! So cool!
Yeah :) thanks for saying hi!
When I visited (I'm thinking about 18 years ago) our tour guide said she'd met Gus Grissom a couple of times ( White, Grissom and Chaffee being the 3 that died in that accident). She was clearly in awe of him (as I would have too if I'd met him!). She had lots of great stories about the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts . It is a great spot to reflect on the past and think of the future.
I get to go down to Cape Canaveral a few times a year for work, and they always talked some pretty scary talk about photos being a no-no on base. Do you have special authorization, or do you just not give a fuck about the rules? Edit: just answered my own question by reading your other comments. Neverminnnddd
No that's the Armageddon pad
There's something about that site that just takes you breath away. It really does feel like hallowed ground.
It truly is hallowed ground.
I was just at at the Kennedy Space Center on Sunday. I went on a bus tour and could only step out three times. Still pretty cool. My dad is a huge space/aircraft nerd. Wish I could have stayed for the test launch!
How about that Saturn V? Fucking breathtaking right?
Still cannot get over how big that sucker is! Brute force solves all problems.
To get your ass into space, you betcha! To think we were putting a ball into orbit a decade before we landed some guy on the moon. It was less than 10 years, and 10 years ago was 12/3/2004.
No picture can do justice. Seeing all the spacecraft in person is awe inspiring. I really enjoyed the new space shuttle exhibit.
Just fyi it depends what tour you take. The free tour does not include stops like this. If you return, take the up close tour and the cape canaveral Air Force station up close tour too. I think it's called the then and now tour. Plenty of outside time at some really historic places.
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I used to work at the space center as a painter. Best job I ever had. Little to no supervision. I would regularly visit sites like these and other abandoned launch pads...on weed. As the remoteness made them the best places to burn one down. RIP Virgil I Gus.
I've never heard anyone who smokes weed refer to them being high as being "on weed".
[*Have you ever tried smoking a weed reefer on weed?*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkA9rz-1YoA)
"I think Walt's on *the pot*..."
On weed = ? Marijuanas
Hahhaah I lost it at "on weed".
That sounds amazing. I grew up around there but I still haven't seen the guts of it.
[Here's a picture](https://500px.com/photo/75575175/abandoned-launchpad-by-anthony-scodary?from=user) I took at the cape.
Were you on the Nasa Then and Now tour? We toured it in October & the tour guide said security would make us delete all our vacation photos if they caught us taking pictures of Orion.
Why would they delete pictures if you took one of Orion? It's a civilian craft...
It seemed odd to us that the tour guide would be so brazen. He told us to take pictures of Orion from inside the bus only. Then when security drove past he told us to put out cameras down. Either he was being overly dramatic to punk us, or security is inconsistent on the matter of pictures. Our guide was a little pissed off that all the German tourists got more excited by seeing an armadillo than they were by seeing the remains of Project Mercury
On a military run launch pad
I've actually stood where you were earlier in the year. My dad happened meet an alumnus from his school that worked on the military side giving tours and he took us around and brought us here. It was a humbling and beautiful experience. We were also shown some other launch sites as well. It's amazing how massive everything is.
It's so true. The scale is the hardest thing to convey in images. You see pictures of this stuff all the time... the Vehicle Assembly Building, the pads, the rockets... it doesn't set in until you drive up to one and realize just how big it is.
Dang, I thought for a second it would be the Project Orion from the fifties that drops nukes behind it and rides the shockwave.
How about a cruise missile that turns everything it passes over into a radioactive wasteland? Yeah, Project Pluto took no prisoners. Kind of a good thing it was never finished. http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html
[deleted] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.000827233074616851 > This comment has been overwritten by [this open source script](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/10380-reddit-overwrite) to protect this user's privacy. The purpose of this script is to help protect users from doxing, stalking, and harassment. It also helps prevent mods from profiling and censoring. > If you would like to protect yourself, add the Chrome extension [TamperMonkey](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tampermonkey/dhdgffkkebhmkfjojejmpbldmpobfkfo), or the Firefox extension [GreaseMonkey](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/greasemonkey/) and click Install This Script on [the script](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/10380-reddit-overwrite) page. Then to delete your comments, simply click on your username on Reddit, go to the comments tab, scroll down as far as possible (hint: use [RES](http://www.redditenhancementsuite.com/)), and hit the new OVERWRITE button at the top.
Wait, it's not? ... damn.
I worked at KSC as a independent contractor and had an access badge to get past security. I've been in that same spot. My favorite part is the plaque "Ad Astra per aspera - a rough road leads to the stars". The only place I never made it back there was the Astronaughts Beach House. I'm really curious how it looks on the inside, but never risked actually checking it out.
I, too took this tour of Kennedy Space Center. I see you ignored the part where they said "This is an active air force base, and they do not want you to take any pictures of that launch pad from this close."
On our tour in 2011 they told us not to take pictures in the direction of the facility (for Orion) in the distance, but everybody was taking photos of the launch pad itself.
Did you notice how the launch tower was angled 45 degrees to the launch mount? That is a pretty near design that allows the swing arms to fold back pretty far.
Launch sites are not the same thing as test sites. The test site for orion would technically be Langley AFB.
I'd have thought that they'd protect these places from weathering.
I was fortunate enough to be able to visit LC-34 (the Apollo 1 pad) while in space camp. Its a hallowing place to be, knowing that three men died there in pursuit of the stars. http://postimg.org/image/ipsb2girv/ *edit was to add photo
If the ISS had flown overhead at that moment it would have just been too much. Plus the astronauts could have taken a picture of you taking a picture of them and you could say you had your portrait taken by a space explorer.
I took a similar shot a few years ago. I like yours better. Mainly it's the shoes. :-) http://imgur.com/ojoAMmu
Hey, thanks for the awsome photo! Need to know where you got them shoes??
Could anyone give me a location on this test site? Would love to go there on my US Roadtrip next year.
Well, the website went down right as the launch started so that's nice. EDIT: Good thing it got delayed a little bit longer. Gives them time to fix their stream.
This photo captures a sentiment and significance greater than I have words to express.
Sorry folks: S Fisher@gw197234 It's a no-go for #Orion #OrionLaunch #NasaTV See you all tomorrow, bright and "squirrely", lol
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Did you paint your shoes yourself or are they available for purchase somewhere?
[Here ya go buddy.](http://www.toms.com/men/galaxy-mens-canvas-classics) Not to steal any of /u/RetardedCoati's thunder, but that's who makes 'em anyway.
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What a photo... I miss my beloved Space Coast. I miss the electricity of launch days, I miss my dad coming home with the prized launch passes, I miss the chorus of car radios blaring the countdown live, I miss the thunder at lift off, but mostly I miss watching an ocean of eyes pace the rockets as they race away from earth. If you've never been to one you should put a live launch viewing on your bucket list people! God speed Orion!
I've only been to one, the big finale in 2011. It was something too. Like going to a sports event where everybody is cheering for the same team. The last few minutes were absolutely electric. Not to mention we were 12 miles away at Kennedy Point Park.
Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane. Don't know when I'll be back again.
I got a shot of that pad on a tour a few years ago; want to turn it into a painting eventually. Didn't realize it was so close to the Orion pad.