Shuttle launch from above...

[Stones]

Nice vantage point for a shuttle launch.

 

[Max_Power004]

One word: "ooooooooooooooooooo!"

 

[edwardw]

Another word: "Ahhhhhhhhh"

One question - why does the smoke change from very white at the base to a dirty color on the column?


Edward

 

[shrox]

I believe the white smoke is from the mixing of water with the hot, high speed exhaust as the water is dumped on to the pad to reduce vibration.

shrox

 

[wwattles]

I'm just guessing here, but it could be 2 different things:
1) It's a result of the solid fuel boosters getting up to full temp
2) It's because the initial few seconds of burn in the SRB's are designed to give a harder kick to get the thing moving, so they have a slightly different chemistry.

Just some ideas. Anybody really know?

WW

 

[Karl]

If your on about the bottom of the exhaust smoke where its a white/browny colour , it my just be dust/dirt from around the launch area???
Karl

 

[edwardw]

The chemistry at the bottom is the same - the grain geometry is different at the bottom. I didn't think about the water jets....

Edward

 

[jflis]

The white is steam, the brown is exhaust.

 

[rocketkid88]

another word.. sweeeeet! (or depending on what era your from maybe 'hot' or 'coool' )
thats a good pic... do you suppose it was a helicopter? and where did you get that pic from? or is that confidential
also i agree with what their saying about the pure white stuff being steam... do you think that same type of effect could be obtained with model rockets? like say we wired up some nicrome in a little 'tray' of water on the pad to help... and then... ok ok, so it would proly never work.. but it was an idea!!

 

[graylensman]

Photo probably taken from a chase jet.

Here's similar shot...

 

[Mike]

How small does that look?!

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Originally posted by graylensman
Photo probably taken from a chase jet.

Here's similar shot...

I've seen this pic before and remember somthing about it being "edited"???? The assembly building is very close to the pad in the pic....... In real life, it's a few miles away........

 

[graylensman]

No, from what I've read, it isn't retouched in any way. Just one of those happy coincidences. Knowing the true distances involved, it gives you a sense of the size of that building...

 

[vjp]

I've seen that photo before too, it's legit. Taken from a long distance, with a telephoto lens, making the 1B and the VAB look closer together than they really are.

 

[vjp]

Found this (higher-res version of pic above) on NASA's server:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/alsj/a410/ap7-KSC-68PC-187HR.jpg

 

[Rocketmaniac]

Originally posted by graylensman
No, from what I've read, it isn't retouched in any way. Just one of those happy coincidences. Knowing the true distances involved, it gives you a sense of the size of that building...

Wow, it looks like the rocket is being launched from the building's front door.......

 

[Johnnie]

no no no, thats the Gates Brothers Saturn 1B project...