We just did a space topic yesterday, but I can’t resist this video. It’s called Go For Launch!. That name makes me think of Okay Go and their recent Rube Goldberg-inspired video. And I think: you know, this space shuttle launch prep is a pretty wacked-out Rube Goldberg sequence too. Only it ends with a freakin’ rocket ship flying into space. All they need are some marbles and a better soundtrack.
The shuttle in the video is Discovery. She is primping for her penultimate voyage. The 25 year-old Atlantis has already flown her last mission. She survived 32 transits to the void and is now on her way to a retirement community outside Palm Springs where she hopes to play golf and Canasta with her surviving sisters.
Rambles Blog at Star Chamber 
OK, a couple of things strike me about this video:
1. A lot of standing-around-guys. I know they must have important jibs, but you sort of get that feeling you get when you’re stuck in traffic because of raod construction and there are the inevitable group of guys standing around….
2. You could totally benny-hillify this video.
Hey, I sat in the cockpit of ol’ Discovery. The year was 1991, I think. It was in the Orbital Processing Facility (the OPF), which is the first building you see in the video. We were in there to check on some payload equipment installed in the crew compartment, and one of the techs, with a wink, offered me a seat.