NASA via Getty Images

The Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off August 10, 2001 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Photo Credit: NASA via Getty Images)

After 45 years and innumerable blastoffs, NASA has just retired the iconic countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

It's easy to see the retirement of the 26 foot wide clock—which premiered at the Apollo 12 moon landing launch in 1969—as yet another sign of the changing times. With the cancellation of the space shuttle program, the clock's last countdown was actually for a SpaceX resupply mission to the International Space Station.

But resist the temptation to wax nostalgic. NASA is spending $280,000 on a new, modern upgrade—which was direly needed. Not only was the clock falling into disarray, but repairs were becoming prohibitively expensive for the clock's antiquated technology (keep in mind, the clock was still using 40 watt bulbs for its digital display).

Now the clock will find a permanent home alongside a Saturn V rocket and the Space Shuttle Atlantis as it moves to the Space Center's visitor complex. But you will be missed, countdown clock.

Via Universe Today.

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