A couple of months back I found out that Lego was releasing a set called 10213 Shuttle Adventure. I was excited on too many levels to name. Basically the point of this post is to let you know that at PUBLIC SCHOOL my newest toy disguised as a desk decoration is this set. It’s pretty friggin’ cool.

Hopefully you’re not sick of me posting about the Space Shuttle yet because I’m only getting started. The above image is a sad one for me. It is of the final External Tank produced for STS-134. It rolled of of the New Orleans assembly line to the tear filled eyes of many workers who are now winding down their jobs on the line, some of which have been there for the 37 years of production.
I grew up in Houston close to Johnson Space center, so being around NASA was pretty common in my childhood and with the end of the Space Shuttle’s lifespan nearing, its gotten we thinking about the perceived simplicity of space flight. Has the repetition and ease with which we’ve traveled to space weakened our overall interest in its existence? Has NASA made it look so easy to pull off that people just don’t care?
The short documentary above covers this concept and shows a group of intensely excited people experiencing the Space Shuttle’s last night launch ever. They’ve interviewed people involved with the Shuttle and curious onlookers who have traveled to witness one of the last liftoffs of Mankind’s most complicated machine.
It’s a great watch considering its brevity and includes some pretty funny interviews. My favorite happens around 19:25 when the guy says “all we’re sayin is….the shuttle launch is wassup man”. It’s a classic phrase for a classic piece of science.
Via Motherboard