Shuttle Launch Movies

[Volans]

G'day All,

I've just now received these two links concerning the recent shuttle launch. Cameras were mounted on the left solid rocket booster, both fore and aft and they give a very interesting perspective of launch.

The movies are about 13meg in size and go for just over two minutes each.

http://www.nasa.gov/mov/151915main_sts-121_left_aft_srb_camera.mov

http://www.nasa.gov/mov/151916main_sts-121_left_forward_srb_camera.mov

The second link is pretty good as towards the end you can clearly see the exhaust plume stretching all the way down to the ground and the shadow of that plume is also visible.

Attached is a still from one of the movies.

Peter.

[h0ughy (David)]

thanks, I like that

[iceman (Mike)]

The first one is really boring for the first 4 minutes, but the last 30 seconds are AMAZING! The view of the shuttle drifting off after separation is one of the coolest things I've ever seen (the screencap above is taken from it). I'm just in awe of it.

The second one is pretty cool showing the launch and looking back down.. geez it gets up there quick.

Amazing videos, thanks for posting.

[Jupiter]

Was the Shuttle out of control soon after takeoff?, it did a 90 degree turn not long after clearing the tower, is this normal?, made me wonder what would happen if it kept spinning, the crew would get dizzy pretty quick and lose control of the big bird, could be disastrous.

[[1ponders] (Paul)]

It's normal Jupiter. The shuttles do a controlled roll not long after liftoff.