STS - Blog Posts

Sheer shirts 😉

The Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle program, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), was the United States government's manned launch vehicle program from 1981 to 2011. The four reusable orbiters were launched vertically, like conventional rockets, and then landed horizontally on a runway. The program became politically untenable after Challenger in 1986 and Columbia in 2003 were lost. The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft in history. It was designed to be launched vertically, then land horizontally on a runway. The Space Shuttle program was a major part of the United States' space exploration efforts. It began with the development of a space shuttle proposal in 1972, which was approved for production as part of an inter-agency program between NASA and the Department of Defense. The first test flight occurred in 1981 and its first operational flight was STS-5, which launched on November 11, 1982. After a series of delays due to both technical issues and external events like the 1986 Challenger Disaster and 2003 Columbia Accident, it flew on 135 missions from 1981 until its decommissioning in 2011; its final launch being STS-135 by Atlantis on July 8th 2010. In 2011, the United States' Space Shuttle was retired from service after 30 years of service. In the current era of spaceflight, the United States is planning for its next crewed spacecraft Orion and its primary launch vehicle SLS; their first flight is set for 2022 with no crew members onboard followed by a crewed flight in 2023. Orion has been under development since 2004. It was originally planned to be launched atop an Atlas V rocket but has since switched over to being launched by a new SLS rocket under development by NASA as part of its Space Launch System program. The first mission using this new vehicle will be Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) which will send astronauts on a lunar flyby mission before returning them safely back home again via parachute landing system similar to what occurred during the Apollo era. #explorepage #sts #spaceshuttle #nasa #columbia #challenger #discovery #atlantis #endeavour #kennedyspacecenter #stemeducation https://www.instagram.com/p/CfwYMqPuUMc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

happy sts! what are some of your favorite settings in your wip? what were they inspired by?

Happy sts! Thank you for asking this, @feathered-inkling!

My favorite settings in my most recent WIP are probably Shiloh’s forge/shop as well as the home Oliver buys at some point later in the story. Shiloh’s place is very much inspired by just kind of the general concept of family owned and run businesses. Her father’s name is still on most of the branding and supplies, and you can find his old tools and gear scattered throughout. But if you look around just a bit more, you can find her own personal touches that she’s slowly added ever since she took over. Oliver’s home starts off inspired by just a bunch of pictures of cool, abandoned houses I found online but very quickly becomes a full representation of everything and everyone he loves and ends up looking a lot like my “cozy home” board on pinterest (think definitely designed by a couple of very different people, but still well loved by both).

happy sts! are there any songs that you associate with your characters?

Oops, I’m a bit late on this one. Sorry!

I only have playlists for two of my characters (Shiloh and Oliver) and, oddly enough, their songs often more closely match their story’s plot than their actual character. A song I definitely associate with Shiloh though is Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time by Panic! At The Disco. With her easygoing personality and some of the shenanigans she gets into in her story, it’s a fantastic fit.

happy storyteller saturday! what are some of your characters’s favorite childhood memories?

Happy sts! Thank you so much for sending a question again, @feathered-inkling! I love answering these!

Oliver’s favorite childhood memories all surround the rare times he and his siblings got to just be kids. Times like playing hide and seek when his parents weren’t home and staying up late telling ghost stories with his younger brother. Shiloh’s favorite childhood memories are just whenever her dad gave her metalwork lessons and taught her anything new surrounding his forge.

happy sts! what's something you're proud of/happy about in your writing?

Happy sts! Thank you for sending in this question, @feathered-inkling!

I had to sit on this one for a bit before I could figure out my answer, honestly. I’ve always been really insecure about my writing, hence why I’m only slowly sharing parts of it now. One thing I’m really happy about in my writing, however, is my ability to really illustrate a scene once I’m comfortable with it. Some of my favorite pieces of mine are ones where I managed to actually describe the full atmosphere, not just rely on sight and sound. A previous creative writing professor of mine actually personally disliked my writing because it was too “flowery and descriptive”. 

Other writers, what are things you’re proud of/happy about in your writing? I’d love to hear from you as well!

happy sts! how do you pick character names? is there any particular reason to why you picked certain names for you OCs?

Oh, I love this question! Thank you so much for asking!

As much as I’d love to say that all of my character names are carefully chosen for them, it actually depends entirely on my mood and if I’m currently really into a particular book/show/podcast/etc. The characters I’ve been working with most lately are Oliver, Juno, Shiloh, and Maggie. Oliver and Maggie essentially just got their names from random generators (and I just made sure the generated name seemed right for their personalities).

Juno, however, I actually named after Juno Steel from The Penumbra Podcast. I adore his character in the podcast and, while my Juno isn’t really that similar to him, I wanted to have that sort of personal connection. When I chose Shiloh’s name, I, again, pulled from a character I (at least used to) like. She’s actually named after Shiloh (an adorable beagle) from the children’s book Saving Shiloh, which I read a ton as a kid.

I know I have tons of other characters I didn’t mention here, but that’s generally how my name choosing works. It’s either almost entirely random or connected to something else I love. (And, in the case of a super old WIP, it’s just a self-insert.)

Thank you again, @feathered-inkling, for asking me this! I’d love to get more questions sent about my writing (especially as I slowly share more of it)! And if you have anything you want to add to this, I’d love to see how other writers go about naming their characters.

I dunno

Uhhhh... yeah👉👈

Mah boy dancing with his crush🥺