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Current Issue Links
Last shuttle launches mark end of an era
Ridgecrest City Councilman shares his experience watching launch of Discovery
A happy string of coincidences placing him in
the right place at the right time allowed Jerry Taylor
— local China Laker and member of the Ridgecrest
City Council — to watch one of the last space
shuttle launches before the program for manned
space flight is shut down at the end of the year.
Taylor remarked that the opportunity was a
mixed bag of emotions — sweet for serving as a
capstone to decades of watching man crack the
final frontier, bitter for witnessing the end of an era
that helped to establish the U.S. as a world leader
in technological accomplishment.
“My generation grew up literally glued to the
television, watching Gemini launches, John Glenn
going into space during the Mercury missions, the
Apollo missions,” said Taylor.
“I had always wanted to see a shuttle launch,
and talked to friends who had done it.” But work
commitments, the distance to Cape Canaveral and
the risk of weather conditions and other delays kept
him from making a trip.
His opportunity came when his job as program
manager for improvement and modernization at
NAVAIR ranges took him to West Palm Beach for a
program review.
“I went online and looked at the calendar and
found that I got lucky,” he said. The 131st launch —
fourth to last as the program draws to an
anticipated closure at the end of this year — was
scheduled for the day before his meeting.
So Taylor left early Easter weekend and stayed
up all night on Sunday to join countless thousands
of other space geeks for the April 5 launch of
Discovery.
Taylor booked a ticket on one of hundreds of
buses shuttling visitors to the event. Spectators
board by 11:45 p.m. to make the trek from area
hotels to Kennedy Space Center for a view of NASA’
s headquarters and a ride to the causeway some
six miles from the launchpad.
The space center and viewing areas are wired
to allow viewers to listen to the progress at mission
control. “Kennedy puts on a pretty good show,” said
Taylor. Lulls in the technical schedule are filled with
interviews from veterans of the space program.
A few minutes before the shuttle launch, the
international space station streaked across the sky
as the opener for the headlining aeronautical
display. “It was kind of cool — you’re getting
anxious for the countdown, and all of a sudden you
get to see the space station fly past,” he said.
the right place at the right time allowed Jerry Taylor
— local China Laker and member of the Ridgecrest
City Council — to watch one of the last space
shuttle launches before the program for manned
space flight is shut down at the end of the year.
Taylor remarked that the opportunity was a
mixed bag of emotions — sweet for serving as a
capstone to decades of watching man crack the
final frontier, bitter for witnessing the end of an era
that helped to establish the U.S. as a world leader
in technological accomplishment.
“My generation grew up literally glued to the
television, watching Gemini launches, John Glenn
going into space during the Mercury missions, the
Apollo missions,” said Taylor.
“I had always wanted to see a shuttle launch,
and talked to friends who had done it.” But work
commitments, the distance to Cape Canaveral and
the risk of weather conditions and other delays kept
him from making a trip.
His opportunity came when his job as program
manager for improvement and modernization at
NAVAIR ranges took him to West Palm Beach for a
program review.
“I went online and looked at the calendar and
found that I got lucky,” he said. The 131st launch —
fourth to last as the program draws to an
anticipated closure at the end of this year — was
scheduled for the day before his meeting.
So Taylor left early Easter weekend and stayed
up all night on Sunday to join countless thousands
of other space geeks for the April 5 launch of
Discovery.
Taylor booked a ticket on one of hundreds of
buses shuttling visitors to the event. Spectators
board by 11:45 p.m. to make the trek from area
hotels to Kennedy Space Center for a view of NASA’
s headquarters and a ride to the causeway some
six miles from the launchpad.
The space center and viewing areas are wired
to allow viewers to listen to the progress at mission
control. “Kennedy puts on a pretty good show,” said
Taylor. Lulls in the technical schedule are filled with
interviews from veterans of the space program.
A few minutes before the shuttle launch, the
international space station streaked across the sky
as the opener for the headlining aeronautical
display. “It was kind of cool — you’re getting
anxious for the countdown, and all of a sudden you
get to see the space station fly past,” he said.
“I have always been amazed watching Vandenberg launches from the Indian Wells Valley,” he said, recalling
the not-uncommon sighting of vapor trails lighting up the southwestern skies. But that spectacle pales in
comparison to witnessing the shuttle launch.
“It is so bright it is literally overpowering,” said Taylor. The flames light up the early-morning sky — so brightly,
the first several photos capturing the launch are overexposed.
Though Taylor was one of thousands who flocked to the cape to witness the historic event, he is still in
among a relative minority of our country’s population.
This is a far cry from the command the space program once held over the national psyche. Taylor attributes
declining interest to the increase in the number of diversions before a once singularly captive audience.
However, he stressed that the program remains key to developing technological advances.
“I am not qualified to comment on the return on investment we have seen from the program,” said Taylor. “But
there is so much we have gained — not just in terms of technology, but in the level of power and pride it signified
for the United States.”
China Lakers, with their contributions on the research and testing fronts, can take pride in those
accomplishments as well, he said.
“Now manned space flight is solely in the hands of the Russians. We are not even going to be in the game. I
think that is something that a lot of people struggle with. There are a lot of things that depress you in today’s
economy. Now add to that the fact that we’re no longer going to be the world leader in space flight.”
But he was quick to point out programs such as those at Caltech and Mojave Air and Space Port that will
hopefully keep our country in the forefront of satellite imaging and commercial space flight.
“I think the president, in a lot of ways, is banking on the motivation of private industry to keep things going.
Perhaps they can even do it better.”
But walking around Kennedy Space Center and the infrastructure that has risen to support the space
program, it is hard to imagine anything less than a devastating impact to the economy on the central coast of
Florida, said Taylor.
“Overall I take the glass-half-full perspective,” he said. “I think [this program] will come back eventually. What it
will look like, that’s hard to say.”
the not-uncommon sighting of vapor trails lighting up the southwestern skies. But that spectacle pales in
comparison to witnessing the shuttle launch.
“It is so bright it is literally overpowering,” said Taylor. The flames light up the early-morning sky — so brightly,
the first several photos capturing the launch are overexposed.
Though Taylor was one of thousands who flocked to the cape to witness the historic event, he is still in
among a relative minority of our country’s population.
This is a far cry from the command the space program once held over the national psyche. Taylor attributes
declining interest to the increase in the number of diversions before a once singularly captive audience.
However, he stressed that the program remains key to developing technological advances.
“I am not qualified to comment on the return on investment we have seen from the program,” said Taylor. “But
there is so much we have gained — not just in terms of technology, but in the level of power and pride it signified
for the United States.”
China Lakers, with their contributions on the research and testing fronts, can take pride in those
accomplishments as well, he said.
“Now manned space flight is solely in the hands of the Russians. We are not even going to be in the game. I
think that is something that a lot of people struggle with. There are a lot of things that depress you in today’s
economy. Now add to that the fact that we’re no longer going to be the world leader in space flight.”
But he was quick to point out programs such as those at Caltech and Mojave Air and Space Port that will
hopefully keep our country in the forefront of satellite imaging and commercial space flight.
“I think the president, in a lot of ways, is banking on the motivation of private industry to keep things going.
Perhaps they can even do it better.”
But walking around Kennedy Space Center and the infrastructure that has risen to support the space
program, it is hard to imagine anything less than a devastating impact to the economy on the central coast of
Florida, said Taylor.
“Overall I take the glass-half-full perspective,” he said. “I think [this program] will come back eventually. What it
will look like, that’s hard to say.”
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By REBECCA NEIPP,
News Review Staff Writer
News Review Staff Writer
The launch of Space Shuttle Discovery - as seen
from the causeway at Cape Canaveral - brightens
the early morning sky.
( Click on photos for larger images. )
Photos by Jerry Taylor
(below)
Tourists stop by the “NASA Rocket Garden” — a
display of the historical rockets NASA?first put into
space —at Kennedy Space Center on their way to
view the Discovery launch.
from the causeway at Cape Canaveral - brightens
the early morning sky.
( Click on photos for larger images. )
Photos by Jerry Taylor
(below)
Tourists stop by the “NASA Rocket Garden” — a
display of the historical rockets NASA?first put into
space —at Kennedy Space Center on their way to
view the Discovery launch.