Category Archives: Science, Space, Technology

Activities, Travel, Vacations, Science, Space, Technology

Sun ‘n Fun Airshow at Lakeland, FL

April 14, 2008 kleucht Leave a comment

I took a much deserved day off work on Friday and attended the Sun ‘n Fun Fly-In and Air Show in Lakeland, Florida with my buddy Les. It was a beautiful day for an airshow and this was quite an airshow.

First we walked around and looked at all the homebuilt airplanes that were there for the fly-in. Then we walked around all the vendor exhibits for a while. Then we watched the airshow and it was quite impressive. Then after a dinner break, they put on a very cool night airshow. And after that, they put on the most spectacular fireworks display I think I’ve even seen in my entire life! It was quite a day. Here is a short video compilation that I posted to YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UqFCnRzDso

And here are some of the photos I took:

Kurt

Nature, Photography, Videos, Science, Space, Technology

Osprey eating a fish at KSC

April 13, 2008 kleucht Leave a comment

The other day at work I saw an osprey sitting on a pole eating a fish, so I took some video of it and posted it on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1GHx1SbmbM

Ospreys are pretty common around here. Sometimes that are mistaken for bald eagles due to their white heads.

Kurt

Nature, Photography, Videos, Science, Space, Technology

KSC Beach Cleanup

April 13, 2008 kleucht Leave a comment

Last week I was able to take part in an annual beach cleanup on the very remote beaches of the Kennedy Space Center. It was a lot of hard work, but it was pretty cool to take part in this worthy cause. I put a short video from the beach cleanup on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjT6dTbacg0

This is an annual event at KSC and it is organized by the Fish & Wildlife Service, who owns most of the land that KSC sits on. They do this every year before sea turtle nesting season starts.

There were some pretty interesting items that were collected, in addition to a ton of bottles and bottle caps, which I noticed were the most frequent item found. A lady right directly in front of me found 2 separate messages in bottles. One of them was a letter from a 9 year old girl in the Bahamas who’s whole class had put messages into bottles for a “sea-pal” exercise. The lady who found the message said she was definitely going to write the little girl back. I found quite a few bottles, but none with messages.

It was hard work in the hot sun, but I’m going to sign up again next year.

Kurt

Activities, Travel, Vacations, Science, Space, Technology

Historic Sportscar Racing at Daytona International Speedway

November 11, 2007 kleucht Leave a comment

Today I attended the Daytona Continental Historic Races at the Daytona International Speedway. This event is organized by the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) organization, and is just one of about 10 historic sportscar racing events that it organizes each year throughout the country. According to the HSR website, “Historic racing series such as HSR represent the fastest growing segment of motorsports in the United States and Europe.” It was an exciting day and I had a lot of fun watching these vintage cars compete against each other on the racetrack. I recorded a little bit of video with my pocket digital still camera and edited it into a four and a half minute compilation. You can watch my video compilation on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGwrNkTx42o

Click on any photo below to go to my online photo gallery where you can download a higher resolution version:

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This is an event that I will definitely take my boys to when they are a bit older.

Kurt

Nature, Photography, Videos, Science, Space, Technology

STS-120 landing passing overhead

November 10, 2007 kleucht Leave a comment

After a spectacular mission, Discovery and the STS-120 crew came in for a safe landing at KSC a few days ago. I work out at KSC, and I went outside my building to watch Discovery glide in. When the Space Shuttle lands from South to North, it glides pretty much right over the KSC Industrial Area, where about half of the KSC employees work. I happened to have my digital pocket camera on me, so I shot this footage. It’s not the greatest quality video, but it’s about all I can expect out of my pocket digital camera.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube. You can hear the sonic booms in the footage and you can also hear it “whooshing” through the air as it passes close overhead. Remember the Space Shuttle Orbiter lands in an unpowered glide, so the “whooshing” is purely the sound of a large lifting body cutting through the air as it glides down to an unpowered landing.