...you might think this is a beautiful sunrise over the water. But in fact, they are photos I took this morning of the last scheduled night launch of the NASA's Space Shuttle Program, STS-130 Shuttle Endeavor.
For those of you who have never seen a night launch, it is one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen. The whole sky lights up with color. Each night launch is different depending on the weather, and this last one did not disappoint. The weather was so clear, you could see it for a long long time after it took off, until it matched the other stars in the sky....
4 comments:
I have never seen pictures of a night launch - until now. Did you hear it as well - don't know how far you are form the launch site. How about feeling the earth rumble?? I have all these ideas of what a launch would be like! Thanks for sharing those pics!
Oh yes, you can hear it too! That is really cool as well because you don't hear anything for about a minute and then this rumble starts from across the water until it reaches you. It shakes the windows and everything. It's about 10 miles away, maybe a little more, as the crow flies. When I lived in Cape Canaveral, which is probably 6 miles away, but with a poorer view, it was even louder. It sounded like the world was ending! This was a stellar launch. Sometimes they are prettier (usually when there's more clouds they are prettier) but this one was so clear, we had an unobstructed view until we couldn't see it anymore!
I was never really interested in them until I moved here, but when you see it in person and you experience the enormity of it, of human discovery, it is really awe inspiring!
p.s. i have more photos, i'll try to upload them to my flickr.
so very cool! thanks for posting the pics, b :)
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