CAPE CANAVERAL Fla. – Spacevidcast will be covering the final launch of the space shuttle program live from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The new media outlet which is based out of Minnesota will begin webcasting at 6:30 a.m. EDT with numerous experts, celebrities and several shuttle-era astronauts.
“We are going to pull out all the stops for this one,” said Spacevidcast’s Producer Benjamin Higginbotham. “With this being the final flight of a space shuttle we hope that the world will be watching this history-making event.”
Spacevidcast has swelled in popularity being named in a recent Wired.com article as the best way to watch a shuttle launch online. Spacevidcast’s live coverage of the final launch of Discovery had 1.2 million unique viewers. The numbers were somewhat lower for the final launch of Endeavour – this however was due to the early hour of the launch.
One of the unique aspects of the launch of STS-134 was astronaut Jim Halsell’s “play-by-play” of crew walkout and arrival at the launch pad. As Spacevidcast has done this already they wanted to change the dynamic for this final shuttle mission. Two astronauts will now share their experiences and detail what is taking place “behind-the-scenes” as the crew makes their way into the Launch Complex 39A.
“We are really pleased as to how the show is shaping up – but we’re not finished yet,” Higginbotham said. “We really want this final broadcast to be something for the record books.”
Currently Atlantis’ crew of four is scheduled to launch on July 8 at 11:26 a.m. EDT. The mission is a resupply flight to the International Space Station and is set to last 12 days. The crew consists of Commander Chris Ferguson, Pilot Douglas Hurley and Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.
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