The Definitive Location
David Shanske
My day job is in training for an airline. I also develop Indieweb WordPress plugins so that others can take control of their online identity.
Dick Van Dyke D23 – Fidelity Fiduciary Bank
I was able to locate these images from that visit.
I also apparently saw an IMAX movie. The dream is alive was released in June of 1985 and prominently featured the Challenger. I do not remember much of that trip clearly.
Attempts to narrow down when I was there exactly have intrigued me, because January of 1986 also marked the Challenger disaster. I wonder how close I was to one of the sad chapters in American Space Exploration.
The Challenger was scheduled to depart the 22nd of January, but it ultimately didn’t happen till the 28th due to a combination of factors including a prediction of inclimate weather for January 26th. In the pictures, I am carrying an umbrella.
Martin Luther King Day was observed nationally for the first time on Monday January 20th, 1986. From recollections of the other parties, we left Florida after that and were back in New York when the disaster occurred.
That would put the trip sometime in the range between Monday, January 6 and Friday, January 17th. We know the previous mission, STS-61C, operated by the Columbia, had an aborted launch on the 6th, and was cancelled on the 7th due bad weather at the contingency landing sites in Senegal and Spain. There was a mechanical problem on the 9th, and on the 10th there was heavy rainfall at the launch area at KSC. It finally launched on the 12th and it later didn’t land at Kennedy Space Center on January 18th due to inclimate weather, ultimately landing at Edwards Airforce Base.
If there had been a launch attempt any day we were there, it would be something that would likely stick in our minds. There is a vague recollection of the shuttle being on the launch pad. But it was most likely the Columbia, not the Challenger as suggested. But who knows?
The final clue is a trip to Disney, taken as part of the same trip, which shows a sunny day. So, we need two days together, one inclimate, one nice…not hard in Florida weather. But lacking concrete historical weather data for 1986(anyone have access to that information?), or more clues, it seems unlikely I can narrow is down further.
The Columbia, which operated STS-61C, disintegrated on February 1, 2003 on reentry. The two shuttle disasters claimed the lives of 14 dedicated men and women.
The search is ongoing for additional visuals from this trip. The mystery remains.
Happy Hanukkah from Shir Soul!
There are many more I haven’t mentioned, like the five different version of the classic Ladino song, Ocho Candelikas. And I’m skipping I have a little Dreidel. But to continue to expand my collection. Any suggestions?
It was once considered unbecoming, or annoying itself, to moan publicly about trifling personal ordeals. Now we tolerate, even encourage, the microcomplaint.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
We headed to Ammunition Hill. I have to say that their museum’s video display was one of the most well-done presentations I can recall seeing in a museum. Ammunition Hill was a Jordanian military post in East Jerusalem and the site of one of the battles of the Six-Day War.
The Jordanians seized control of the hill during the 1948 conflict, which severed the connection between Mount Scopus and West Jerusalem. On June 6, 1967 at 2:30AM, the Israelis attacked. However, due to faulty intelligence, the size of the Jordanian forces was three times as much as expected. The battle ended four hours later, with 36 Israeli soldiers and 71 Jordanians killed. 
We returned to just outside the gates of the old city to see a common site…young boys preparing for a Bar Mitzvah at the Western Wall. They are escorted from outside under a chupah with friends and musicians.
The Knesset is the legislature of Israel. It first convened on February 14, 1949, and moved to its current location in 1966. The Menorah is located in front of the Knesset and was presented in 1956. It took over six years to finish, and depicts various scenes from the history of the Jewish people.
At the Israel Museum, you can not only see the Dead Sear scrolls(no photography permitted), but the Holyland Model of Jerusalem. Commissioned in 1966 by the owner of the Holyland hotel, it was relocated to the museum in 2006.
Since 1965, the majority of the Dead Sea scrolls can be found at the Shrine of the Book, at the Israel Museum.
Next time…we finish off the New City with Mount Hertz and Yad Vashem and move on to the final touring day.