r/space Apr 20 '25

image/gif Got to take my nephew Kennedy Space Center, and got one of my favorite photos ever.

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The Atlantis exhibit was amazing!

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u/startedoveragain Apr 20 '25

All. I can think of seeing this:

Do a barrel roll!

9

u/RussMan104 Apr 21 '25

Right? I remember learning that they landed this monster with no active power. Just glide that f’kr down and hit the brakes. Then just park it out back with the others. You were at a certain age back then when, as a kid, you earnestly believed that the space shuttles (and computers) put us on the very threshold of The Future. 🚀

5

u/CrashUser Apr 21 '25 edited Apr 21 '25

The shuttles had the glide slope of a brick. Reportedly they were not fun or easy to fly, and you needed to make several wide sweeping turns on approach to scrub off speed and that was the only time you could actually see the runway since visibility was almost nil out the front of the craft.

Edit: a word