Warbirds are great, but this might be better.........

[P51Mstg]

Actually its been used to haul secret military payloads into orbit, but its not a warbird yet....

Well as much fun as warbirds are, nothing matches this. I went to the launch Saturday and it was incredible. I can't believe they launched 123 of them already and I never saw one in person before.

The fire is awesome, the noise and the ground shaking and its all over in less than 30 seconds.

There are only 12 more shots left and then its retired......... I'm going to hit them all too

Photos shot from about 10 miles out, Canon 1D Mark III with 1.4 converter and a Canon 500mm F4.0L as well as a Gitzo tripod and Wimberly II head. Original shots look like the last one........

Mark H


Coming off the Pad



Climbing out



100% full Sized image

[Kyleb]

Nice shots! I have seen one shuttle launch and the what really stands out in my mind is how quickly the event was "over". If I recall correctly, about 30 seconds until the shuttle was more or less out of sight to the naked eye (excluding the exhaust plume)...

[Forgotten Field]

Back in the day of "Star Wars" and the tests releasing it from the 747, I was completely hooked. It was an inspiring program- who could imagine, a reuseable spacecraft!? I long for the day when the US is reaching for space again like we did in the 1960's and early 1970's. Truly an incredible time.

[RickH]

Saw one, what amazed me was how fast it accelerated and how quickly it got down range. What an amazing achievement !

[John Cotter]

I was flying one night from Newark to somewhere in Central America and they launched a rocket (not the shuttle), but it sure was cool and it only took a few seconds to pass our altitude (370).

[b29flteng]

I saw one from Fort Lauderdale on a severe clear day. You could see the flame and smoke trail very clear.

About 7 years ago we watched a re-entry over Texas at night and ten minutes later it lands in Florida, WOW!

[RickH]

I probably saw the same one, B29. As I was driving into the neighborhood we looked up and saw this orange streak. Got to the house and turned on the TV, he was already in the overhead at Kennedy.

[Second Air Force]

When I worked at Fort Worth/AFW I was fortunate to see a couple of night re-entries while on our apron. Ellen and I watched one from our backyard in Ponder, and I was lucky enough to be on the departure frequency at 2500' just south of Gainesville for the last one I saw. There was a LOT of chatter about what the ^*#@#$ that huge yellow streak was, and it is simply an awesome sight to see from the air.

Scott

[sdennison]

Not much chance of a fly over at Oshkosh, I'd guess...

[n5151ts]

can't they use lektricitie to launch that dang thing?

[Matt Gunsch]

Too bad NASA is taking a giant step backwards with the orion. We went from Apollo , a 18 ft capsule with a 3 man crew, to the shuttle with a huge cargo bay and lifting power, and a crew of 7, back to a capsule with a 3 man crew. Why don't they just pull all the Apollo hardware from the musuems, dust off a Saturn V, and go to the moon.

[mtpopejoy]

Living in Florida for 2 years recently I had an odd experience happen to me.

I had gone home to my apt. for lunch and while eating I heard what I thought was a huge explosion, rattling the windows and setting off car alarms in the parking lot.

When I got back to work (6 miles away) I told my co-workers about it. They said they heard the same thing.

Come to find out it was the sonic boom from the shuttle coming in to land at Kennedy...we were in West Palm Beach!

[Bill Greenwood]

A carbon footprint that even Eric can't match.

[K5DH]

I was flying one night from Newark to somewhere in Central America and they launched a rocket (not the shuttle), but it sure was cool and it only took a few seconds to pass our altitude (370).

Dontcha love it?!?!?!

In the spring of 2005, Cindy and I were on a QANTAS flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, and as we were nearing the California coast just about sunrise, the captain came on the PA system and told everyone to look out the right side of the cabin to see the launch of some kind of research rocket from Vandenburg AFB. We were re-routed a bit to the north to keep the airspace clear. It was very cool to watch that upside-down candle zip up through the atmosphere and out of sight! We even got to see the 1-2 stage separation.

I don't remember what kind of rocket it was, however (I'm having yet another senior moment).

(Aussies: Note that I have correctly written "QANTAS" in all capital letters, since it is an acronym for Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service)

As for the space shuttle... (which, to me, is one of mankind's greatest achievements)

My parents and little sister live in Punta Gorda, which is a few miles north of Fort Myers. If it's a quiet day without a lot of local noise, they can hear the roar of the engines as the orbiter lifts off from the Cape (and that's about 250 miles away, folks!), as well as seeing the smoke trail heading into space. Of course, the double sonic booms rattle every window in Florida when the orbiter comes home.

Cheers!

[kenlyco]

This pick was taken right down the street from me. amazing!