Riding the Boosters

Pretty incredible Shuttle launch footage! Enjoy!

[video=youtube;AeEQ3Y_M4Zs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeEQ3Y_M4Zs[/video]

Nice, not a perspective you get to see very often.

Do you think they used an 808 camera for this?

Thanks for posting this!

Looked like evidence to support the flat, motionless Earth theory.

Man, that thing looks like it's missing tiles to me.
Amazing technology, and, as much as I'm aware of the cost and I know that we are not exactly rolling in spare cash, but I MISS the excitement of those launches. The teachers hauled TV'S into class back in the sixties, and class stopped a few minutes before liftoff.
T minus five, and counting...

Very nice! Thanks for sharing! :clap:

justin_o_guy said:

Man, that thing looks like it's missing tiles to me.

Click to expand...

That's what I thought when I first saw it, then realized that those are "dust covers" over the RCS nozzles.

Thanks for posting this.

One thing though, the music the youtuber added is.... well, I'll just say that it was not a good choice and leave it at that.

The ORIGINAL sounds are more interesting, especially for those who know rockets.

If only we could see that exact same video, with original sound.

Wouldn't that be nice?

Oh, WE CAN! The original is below.

Well, a copy someone posted on Youtube, adding the velocity data, but keeping the original sound (well, they say they enhanced the sound). It is this one that the above music version used.

BTW - at 7:04, that is the extended nozzle being dropped by use of a linear shaped charge. You see it splash into the ocean before the SRB hits. Reason for blowing off the nozzle was to reduce water impact forces on the SRB aft skirt. Being ablative, the nozzle was not reuseable anyway.

MAN I miss the shuttle. There is no "Replacement". You do not replace a Tractor Trailer Truck that can carry 10 people, and can fly to LEO Satellites to do repairs (Hubble), with a Volkswagon Bug that seats 4 (originally sold as 6) and has very limited capabilities.


[video=youtube;2aCOyOvOw5c]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aCOyOvOw5c[/video]

It's hard to tell what the speed really is at impact because of the lack of anything to give it scale, but even being aware of that it sure doesn't seem like it actually hits the water at 55 mph.

Cool video

Mushtang said:

It's hard to tell what the speed really is at impact because of the lack of anything to give it scale, but even being aware of that it sure doesn't seem like it actually hits the water at 55 mph.

Click to expand...

If you mean it looks slower than 55 mph, keep in mind the camera is 150 feet or more above the water at impact.

From this wiki:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Solid_Rocket_Booster#Descent_and_recovery

Nominal landing velocity is 76 ft/s, which is about 51 mph. So, the video has it in the ballpark (and there might have been some data lag). I was surprised that the chutes did not fully unreef until moments before landing and the velocity kept slowing dramatically even in those last few seconds rather than reaching a terminal velocity. So if the chutes had fully unreefed 2 seconds earlier, it might have landed at about 50-51 mph, if that velocity data was correct with no lag.

- George Gassaway