Re: Video I took from this morning's shuttle launch
Posted by
Chris in Tampa on 2/8/2010, 7:50 pm
I'm not sure how long it burns off. I'm not sure where the excess is still coming off from either. I know I was watching something online yesterday that said they actually add coloring to the clear burning gas so that it is visible for safety reasons. I thought it was just excess when they were filling the tanks and keeping them full which they end shortly before launch I think. Maybe there is just some excess still in the pipes. I left about five minutes after the liftoff when the shuttle was just a small dot. I turned the camera off and left just after I took the last look at the empty launch pad.
I never did see the boosters coming off. The camera picked it up and some people there saw it, but I was trying to keep the camera focused on the shuttle and the shuttle was so bright it was hard to make out much else.
Boosters in the video:
2:35 - 2:47 --- Unfocused, but you can see the boosters coming off
3:11 - 3:12 --- Tiny red dots, the boosters, about 150 degrees from the white dot that is the shuttle
I wanted to take a picture with my digital still camera, especially when the sky lit up, but I chose the digital video camera I borrowed from a friend since I didn't trust my digital camera to do well in low light. I didn't expect the magnitude of the bright light in the sky when it lifted off though, and that didn't come across on the digital video camera because I was so zoomed in, but if I had a free hand I would have got a picture of the sky full of light. That and actually feeling the shockwave of the launch are what were the coolest parts.
I might go to one of the remaining day launches too. Everyone who can should try to make the trip. Out of state people, maybe plan a trip to Disney World maybe around the launch time and try and see it all.
I definitely will not have anywhere near the spot I had for this one, because I can't imagine the amount of people who would go to a day launch. (I would probably have to spend at least 6 plus hours I would bet for a day launch to get about the spot I had.) A lot of weekday launches when kids are in school, but given the historic nature of the last launches, there will be a lot of people sick on those days. |
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