view from a booster
This is footage compiled from cameras aboard two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) during NASA Space Shuttle launches.
Simply amazing. It’s a shame that the Shuttle program was shut down. Hopefully human exploration of space, deeper than the low-orbit ISS, will resume.
This is incredible! I love how they added flight data like velocity to the footage. It gave a very good frame of reference. Seconds after the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) are jettisoned and begin tumbling, a nice surprise was seeing the plume from all the engines leading back to the launch site.
I too wish the shuttle was still in service, however it doesn’t mean the end of manned missions to space. The new “Orion” Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) has the mission of Near-Earth object (NEO) mission and an eventual Mars landing. It’ll be quite differet from the shuttle.
The flight data was really cool. I was amazed at the speed going up, and how much the SRBs slowed down before splashdown.
BTW. The sounds from the boosters as they are tumbling down to Earth are slightly reminiscent of that scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey when the astronauts are approaching the monolith. The mechanical groans and other noises were quite interesting. I didn’t realize the sounds were that loud in such thin air.
Good point Francis. That pinging did sound like sounds I’ve heard in some space movies. Of course, it doesn’t rival that Enterprise engine noise soundtrack you had running in your office.
This is incredibly cool! I’ve always been fascinated by what things look like right at the cusp of the outer limit of the atmosphere. In space, it is dark, but just as you enter the atmosphere, the light is trapped and you have daylight. I didn’t know the boosters went that high into the darkness.
Same here, Brian. Interestingly, the first time that I saw the video, I kept forgetting that the cameras were on the booster and was thinking “Why is the shuttle tumbling like that.” Doh!
Great to relive this through these photos. Seeing the Discovery flyover today was incredibly thrilling — there was an electrified feeling in the crowd as we got to see it flying by three times as it circled the Mall.