Final night launch.

So, NASA just conducted what will probably be its final night launch of a Space Shuttle about an hour ago. I stepped outside of work to catch a glimpse of it. I wish I would have taken a photo.


I will miss it a lot.

Going outside to watch those is something from my childhood. One of my earlier memories is my parents bringing me outside in our front yard one night to watch the sky light up. Even in the middle of the state, everything gets brighter.


It is one hell of a sight to see:

Holy christ, that's awesome.

I wish I was in FLA when one of these happened.

Damn to think all the times I've been there.

I watched it live...on TV, but I would love to catch one someday in real life.

Ford wrote: QUICK JED, GET THE PONTOON, IMMA GET ME ONE DEM DER ROCKET BOOSTERS FOR MEH PICK'EMUP TRUCK !

Haha. Working on the Coast Guard boats who have to wait out in the water and track where the boosters land falls pretty high on the list of jobs I don't want.

JohnnyHopper wrote: Believe it or not, I've seen it from Charleston, SC as well.

Wow. Really? That is amazing. I had no idea it could be seen so far.

Predatorr wrote: Amazing. I take it that you didn't capture those shots Did you take any?

Nah, those are just some shots others have taken through the years.

Sadly, I didn't snap any myself this time.

Night launches make for AMAZING photos though:







Edited by agentwhale007 - 14 November 2008 at 11:21pm

That is so bad ass man.

Its so bright I almost squint looking at the pics.

Predatorr wrote: Tol, post video?

The video was recorded at 1280x720 pixels and is a .mov file. Because of that, it's over 200 mb. Until I find a way to reduce the file size and resolution to something more reasonable, I am not going to post it.

JohnnyHopper wrote: Believe it or not, I've seen it from Charleston, SC as well.

that might have been from langly if they launch from up there...

I would love to see a shuttle launch. When I was a kid, maybe about 12, my grandparents took my sister and I to Florida. Disney World and all that. I was a nut about space and astronauts at the time, and I wanted to visit the Space Center. No one else in my family had any interest in going, and they said it was too far away. After we got home to PA, I heard that there had been a launch while we were there.

The Guy wrote: I must have missed this...Why arn't they doing night launches anymore?

The Shuttle program ends in 2010, and they already have the launches planned out until the last one. This just happened to be the last night launch window for the remaining two years.