Shuttle Sunday: STS-41-D - Discovery's maiden flight

Incredible machine - I worked in a building directly off the 1R / 19L runway at IAD when they brought Discovery home after her final mission, and got to witness both low-level flyovers before she landed and swapped spots with Enterprise. I’ll forever regret not taking time off work to see them nose-to- nose that day, but at least I’ve seen them both (including Enterprise after they did the testing on the RCC leading edges which was the eureka moment in the Columbia disaster - people in the museum had no clue why the leading edge was slightly discolored, it was obviously the giant hole produced after their foam impact testing, pretty terrifying thing to look at honestly, but at least most visitors had no clue and curators never mentioned it.)

Great stream thanks Chris B, Sawyer, and NSF team.

Awesome Shuttle Sunday Chris B & Sawyer, Thank you again! Also great baby pictures Chris B Thank you!

I was at 4 Shuttle launches.. two at night.. unbelievable, so loud , hundreds of car alarms going off. Very loud. It was like daylight at night..

very interesting chat guys thank you muchly

I loved the shuttle program and saw many launches living in Florida. Unfortunately I watched the Challenger blow up in middle school . Never forget that day.

When I was a boy, they would roll a TV into the classroom so we could watch them shoot a man into space. I was hopelessly hooked on space. Since then, I've stood on the ground and watched many shuttle launches. I also had the misfortune to witness both disasters as they unfolded. It was like having my heart ripped from my chest. Even today, videos of those events break me down and the images of those days are burned into my brain. RIP to our lost souls.

Way to short episode 😂And how do we get those shuttle engineers on this show? Would be a fun input. Keep up this great work.

Shuttle had ribs and a keel, like a proper ship. Needed for hatch.

Still my favourite spacecraft! 🫡

The twang

Sawyer!

wait what they brought back the space shuttle era?

Starship tiles have to deal with cryogenic expansion and contraction whereas the Shuttle had no tiles that had to deal with cryogenic fuel. Starship tiles are a much harder problem to solve 🚀

👾👾👍👾👾