Galley Head, Ireland
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Atlantis Takes Off
This week I flew down to Orlando to see Atlantis take off. As this was the last mission to the Hubble the area was packed. I watched from a location on the Cocoa Beach Causeway (SR 520).
The last mission to the Hubble was in 2002. This mission was scheduled for 2004 but scrubbed as too dangerous after the Columbia disaster in 2003. Post-Columbia, the plan in case of orbiter damage has been to keep the astronauts at the ISS until they could be rescued. This isn't possible when going to the Hubble. Hence, the Endeavour shuttle was on the other launch pad in case a rescue mission was required.
What sounds like wind noise starting at about 1 minute into it is the noise from the launch finally reaching our location. That says we were about 8-10 miles away. It gets louder as the shuttle gets higher then dies down.
Click on the HD in the bottom right corner of the picture. Depending on your Internet speed, you may want to then click on pause and let it load before playing.
This was shot with my Creative Labs Vado HD using a tripod (at first).
Oh, I haven't told you about the Vado HD have I? Later...
This week I flew down to Orlando to see Atlantis take off. As this was the last mission to the Hubble the area was packed. I watched from a location on the Cocoa Beach Causeway (SR 520).
The last mission to the Hubble was in 2002. This mission was scheduled for 2004 but scrubbed as too dangerous after the Columbia disaster in 2003. Post-Columbia, the plan in case of orbiter damage has been to keep the astronauts at the ISS until they could be rescued. This isn't possible when going to the Hubble. Hence, the Endeavour shuttle was on the other launch pad in case a rescue mission was required.
What sounds like wind noise starting at about 1 minute into it is the noise from the launch finally reaching our location. That says we were about 8-10 miles away. It gets louder as the shuttle gets higher then dies down.
Click on the HD in the bottom right corner of the picture. Depending on your Internet speed, you may want to then click on pause and let it load before playing.
This was shot with my Creative Labs Vado HD using a tripod (at first).
Oh, I haven't told you about the Vado HD have I? Later...
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