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An astronaut's first ride on Atlantis way back in '85 BY JUSTIN RAY SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: May 14, 2010 
Seven-time shuttle flier Jerry Ross, who took five of his trips into Earth orbit aboard Atlantis, recently recounted in vivid detail the incredible thrill of blasting off.
Ross was selected as an astronaut in 1980 and got assigned to Atlantis' second mission -- STS-61B -- that deployed three commercial communications satellites and featured experimental spacewalking tests. Launch came at 7:29 p.m. on November 26, 1985. "My first shuttle flight on Atlantis was the 23rd overall shuttle flight. So I had listened to 22 crews come back and give us very excruciating details on what they saw, what they learned, what they felt on each of those missions. I put all of that information into my think-tank and every time I'd go out running or exercising, I'd daydream what it was going to be like strap that puppy on and go for a ride. "I can frankly tell you that about 20 seconds after liftoff, I was thinking to myself, 'Ross, what in the world are you doing here?!' "As you remember, that was back when we were still launching in cloth flight suits and a motorcycle helmet and T-38 flight boots. We didn't have our launch and entry suits (introduced after Challenger), we weren't in a pressurized environment in that little cocoon it gives us. Those suits really do muffle out a lot of the sounds, a lot of the vibrations that the vehicle generates during first stage. "So for me, that first launch a pretty exciting ride. There was a lot of rumbling and shaking, as I said. Since it's a lot easier to maneuver around in the seat, I was able turn around in my seat. I was in the back-right seat behind the pilot for launch. I was able to turn around and be looking (through the overhead windows) back at the base of the pad and saw all of the water starting to come out for the sound suppression and thought, 'well, I guess I better turn around, it looks like they are going to do this.' "I no more and got turned around and the engines were rumbling and then the solids hit. The solids hitting is kind of like someone taking a baseball bat and swinging it pretty smartly and hitting the back of your chair. And that was the first sensation I had that 'woo, this is really pretty impressive.' But literally during the first 15-20 seconds, screeching through the atmosphere, the wind noise on the outside of the vehicle was really incredible, very impressive. Much more than I had ever experienced in a jet airplane, either commercial or military. "When you throttle down, you don't really know that you're throttling down. But when you throttle back up, it feels like someone just put the afterburner in....A lot of sensations, a lot of memories and a sensation Disney's E-Ticket rides would never come close." Ross would fly again on Atlantis in 1988, 1991, 1995 and 2002. He also took trips on Columbia in 1993 and Endeavour in 1998.
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The final planned flight of space shuttle Atlantis is symbolized in the official embroidered crew patch for STS-132. Available in our store!
