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From: karn@petrus.UUCP (Phil R. Karn)
Newsgroups: net.columbia
Subject: Re: VIP Shuttle Passes
Message-ID: <411@petrus.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 20-Jul-85 15:53:45 EDT
Article-I.D.: petrus.411
Posted: Sat Jul 20 15:53:45 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 22-Jul-85 06:50:16 EDT
References: <112@cpsc53a.UUCP> <303@pyramid.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Inc
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My own suggestion is to, if at all possible, get a PRESS pass instead of a
VIP pass. This gives you access to the "bleachers" and the rest of the Pad
39 Press Site, including the press conference room, and the Press Dome, with
dozens of nifty handouts for the taking. (My stack was about a foot high.)
There were plenty of bus tours. One was a general tour of the rest of Cape
Canaveral, while the real highlights were the three trips (daytime, sunset,
RSS rollback) out to the perimeter of the pad fence.  Standing just east of
the pad at night as the xenon spots were turned on was quite a memorable
experience; after that, the launch itself was almost anti-climactic.

Press passes are given to anyone with a bona-fide role as a writer or
reporter. In my case I was there with a colleague to "cover" the launch of
STS-9 (the first "ham-in-space" flight) for AMSAT's magazine. Others were
there from L-5, etc.  Press interest in shuttle missions has waned
considerably (only half the stands were filled for STS-9, and that was 1.5
years ago) so the competition isn't bad. Most of the press there were
obviously hard-core space junkies, but NASA certainly didn't mind that they
enjoy their "jobs".

The only problem with seeing a launch in person is that there is no
instant replay.

Phil