OT: Shuttle launch

[emackrell]

This has nothing whatever to do with pen turning but it's such an astonishing photo I wanted to share it. The International Space Station was in position to get this photo of the recent shuttle launch:

It's been a while since I say anything this cool!!

cheers Eileen [8D]

 

[DocStram]

Whoaaaaa Eileen. THAT is cool.

 

[DCBluesman]

Cool, but eerily reminiscent of January '86, only there were two plumes. Thanks for sharing this picture of our success!

 

[tipusnr]

Been watching the last couple of missions on www.nasa.gov . Just click on NASA TV link whenever there is a mission. Often fairly slow action but I find a lot of it very interesting.

 

[btboone]

That gives some perspective of how low the space station is flying. If a globe was a foot across, the orbit of the space station would only be around 1/8" off the surface. The atmosphere would only be as thick as a couple sheets of paper!

 

[alamocdc]

That IS cool! Unlike Lou, it reminded me of nothing like Jan '86. I was watching the launch live with my 8th grade class (I was the teacher). I will never forget that day (or 9/11/01, but there is quite a difference). Being a science teacher, I was envious of Christa for getting to go. All of us that applied for the program new the risks and gladly accepted them. God bless all who lay their lives on the line to try and better our world!

 

[alamocdc]

Originally posted by btboone
<br />That gives some perspective of how low the space station is flying. If a globe was a foot across, the orbit of the space station would only be around 1/8" off the surface. The atmosphere would only be as thick as a couple sheets of paper!

I noticed that, Bruce. I thought it had a higher orbit than that, but I guess not.

 

[Nolan]

Right on!! At my desk I often listen to the live feed from the shuttle missions.
Nolan

 

[btboone]

The orbit is about 340 miles up right now. It varies from around 350 miles to around 330 miles and is constantly losing altitude. It has to be boosted by any and every rocket that goes up to it. The loss of altitude is affected by solar activity and upper atmosphere drag. It is really an eye opener to take a globe and see what 340 miles looks like in comparison to the whole globe. It just doesn't seem possible that something can rotate that close and not crash into the Earth!

 

[Monty]

Nice pictures but not taken from the space station:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/space/shuttlelaunch.asp

 

[ed4copies]

Very nice photo, Eileen.

Is that our leader, Jeff, in the smoke on the ground???[][][]

 

[Ron in Drums PA]

Great Photo Eileen!! Thanks for sharing that.

For you NASA buffs, here are two great links

http://www.google.com/mars/

http://moon.google.com/

It's amazing how close you can get to the ground when you zoom in.

Also, Google has signed an agreement with NASA to house all their images
http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/18/prnw.20061218.DCM022.html

 

[jwoodwright]

Bill Oefelein is the pilot and he is from Alaska!
Last Frontier to Final Fromtier!

 

[kent4Him]

Cool. Great Picture.

 

[bob393]

Thanks for sharing, Way Cool.