And now for something that has nothing to do with International Talk Like a Pirate Day but is still pretty dang cool:

I grabbed this awesome photo from Damaris, a woman who works at Kennedy Space Center and is in training to become an astronaut herself. It’s not especially rare for two shuttles to be on their launch pads at the same time, but it is quite unusual for them to both be visible like this, because usually there’s a massive gantry called the Rotating Service Structure surrounding them and blocking the view. (The RSS is the bulky-looking mess of girders to the left of the shuttle in the foreground… not that upright tower, but the other part with the white center.) This particular photo is actually 18 years old; that’s the late, lamented Columbia and her sister ship Discovery back in September of 1990, the last time anyone saw this particular spectacle. But as Damaris explains, we’ll get the chance again tomorrow when Endeavour and Atlantis take their places out there at Launch Complex 39 and, for a few hours at least, will be standing naked beneath the Florida skies.
There’s nothing earth-shattering here, just a neat picture of something you don’t see everyday, and some interesting trivia. Click the pic to enlarge it, and then head over to Damaris’ blog for the whole story…

[Update: Damaris just updated her blog with pics of Endeavour and Atlantis on their pads, including a really gorgeous aerial shot that even includes a rainbow! Go check ’em out…]