🚀 go-pugleaf

shafer@rigel.dfrf.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer) writes:
 >>NO SHUTTLE GROUND LAUNCHES WERE SECRET.  LAUNCHES FROM A 747, AT 
 >>35,000 FEET OR SO, WOULD *NOT* BE EASY TO SEE.

 >Dean> Right, they would be IMPOSSIBLE to see, since NO such 
 > > capability exists.
 >Er, Dean, we did launch the Enterprise from the 747 at altitude.
 >It was quite easy to see, too.  I saw it all five times.

Now Mary, you should know that I could never forget something like the whole 
Approach and Landing Test series (even though I didn't see it from nearly
the vantage point you did! :)

 >Having come into this in the middle, 
I thought you came in before I did? :->

 >maybe I'm misunderstanding what CAPS LOCK means by launch.  If it's 
 >launching in the sense of going to orbit, you're quite correct; no such 
 >capability exists.  There's no 747 in the world that can carry the Shuttle 
 >with the external tank and SRBs.  

Well, speaking of capabilities that don't exist... the issue at hand 
was LAUNCHING the "Enterprise" *without* any ET/SRB stack at all.
Here is part of the original sordid prose in question...  :-)

 ->    Tuesday morning, April 14, genetic replicas called "Synthetics" of 
 -> the late astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen were readied at White 
 -> Sands.  They were programmed to take a computerized ride on the training
 -> shuttle "Enterprise."  The Young and Crippen entities boarded the 
 -> Enterprise, which was mounted on top of the launch 747.  After rocket 
 -> fuel was loaded for the shuttle, the 747 took off and headed west...
 -> On television we were told that the non-existent Columbia was re-entering
 -> from orbit.  Meanwhile the "Enterprise", re-labeled "Columbia", cut loose
 -> from the 747 and fired its rockets.  It sped up to a speed of nearly 
 -> 6,000 miles per hour, then we watched it as it made that dramatic race 
 -> in from the sea to a precise computer landing at Edwards Air Force Base.

Phew... pretty silly stuff!  (I sure hope THAT is not what you saw :)