Time for the second installment of college nostalgia, courtesy of all the photos I sent off to be scanned!
(Previously: Fall 97)
After finishing my first coop tour in Houston the previous December, I spent the winter quarter back at Georgia Tech — and apparently there was nothing worthy of a camera, because I don’t have any photos from that quarter except these:
My birthday fell over spring break, and two of my friends came home to Charlotte with me for a few days. Carter made random hats and signs for everyone in honor of my 20th birthday — I’ve got a crown that said “20”, he’s got a hat that says “teen”, my sister has a huge sign around her neck just in case anyone forgot her name is Katie (apparently), and I think Anit had construction paper bows in her hair. Funny.
(I think my parents still have that map on the wall in the den, even though it shows the USSR and East Germany as countries.)
My friends went back to Atlanta for the spring of 1998, but I headed back down to Houston for my second coop tour. Georgia Tech was still on the quarter system at the time but of course most colleges are on semesters, so when I arrived in Houston, I was met with an entirely different group of people than I’d known the previous fall. They had all been there since January, and I clearly remember being pretty bummed out the first month or so because I didn’t know anyone. The only pictures I seem to have from that quarter are from two road trips I took with Justin and Shun. I spent a ton of time with those guys that spring, but I haven’t talked to them in years. (For the umpteenth time, it occurs to me that I should post a few of these on Facebook and tag everybody.)
We went to San Antonio and Austin one weekend on a camping/tubing trip. It was the first time I’d been to either city, although I’ve now been to both several times. As soon as we got to San Antonio, Justin’s car got a flat tire — which was a lot of fun to change in a sketchy parking deck late at night. Tubing on the Guadalupe is a big thing in Texas and although I haven’t done it since, I remember having a lot of fun that day.
A few weeks later, the three of us decided — at the last possible minute, and I remember having to go into my boss’s office and meekly ask if I could take vacation the very next day — to road trip to Florida to see the STS-91 launch. We got there the day before the launch and ran amok around KSC seeing everything we could.
We couldn’t get this close to the actual launch pad since we were less than 24 hours from liftoff, so we went to the other shuttle pad.
We also some fun with one of the shuttle crawlers that was parked next to the VAB.
Left: Standing on the rusting remains of the Gemini launch tower at Pad 19
Right: Climbing on a flame trench at Pad 34 where the Apollo 1 accident occurred
Justin’s car at Pad 34…he was a little obsessed with his BMW
We also drove through the Cape Canaveral Air Station, which is right next to KSC but belongs to the Air Force. The early space launches were all at the air station, so we checked out the Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo launch pads. It was crazy to see them in states of disrepair, with old hardware just lying around gathering rust.
Mercury 7 monument outside Complex 14, where John Glenn and subsequent Mercury flights launched
I’m looking at these photos now and feel a little embarrassed that we were climbing all over these important historical sites and monuments. But we were just young, excited, dumb coops.
The next day was launch day! We decided to watch from the big outdoor stairwell (the fire escape, I suppose) on the side of the Launch Control Center, which is right next to the VAB. We were able to climb almost to the top, so we had a fantastic view of the launch. Justin had an SLR and a tripod so I have to give him full credit for this series of launch photos:
After the launch, we went into the LCC and ate some traditional launch beans with the launch team.
Spring 1998! Fun times! I’m not sure what the next installment of “Sarah’s College Days” will be — I don’t think I have many photos from the rest of that year, which I spent back at Tech, so I may just have to skip forward to the first part of 1999.
Jennifer says
I remember going tubing on the Guadalupe – lots of fun – in Summer 99. I’m surprised you weren’t there.
saroy says
Hmm, let’s see, I was in Houston for summer 99. I wonder why I didn’t go then? Weird!
Jennifer says
Now that I think about it, it’s possible I went with Boeing people.
Ralph Hightower says
I would love to have access to the abandoned launch sites that y’all visited. Got a lauch from the shuttle crawler.