Starship Asterisk*

Space Shuttle Rising

Explanation: What's that rising from the clouds? The space shuttle. Sometimes, if you looked out the window of an airplane at just the right place and time, you could have seen something very unusual -- a space shuttle launching to orbit. Images of the rising shuttle and its plume became widely circulated over the web shortly after Endeavour's final launch in 2011 May. The above image was taken from a shuttle training aircraft by NASA and is not copyrighted. Taken well above the clouds, the image can be matched with similar images of the same shuttle plume taken below the clouds. Hot glowing gasses expelled by the engines are visible near the rising shuttle, as well as a long smoke plume. A shadow of the plume appears on the cloud deck, indicating the direction of the Sun. The US Space Shuttle program concluded in 2011, and Endeavour can now be visited at the California Science Center.

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Great image....

Bit expensive for a Sundial....

:---(===) *

What is the elevation of the cloud deck? I notice a trajectory change after exiting the cloud deck. Wind speed above and below?

Boomer12k wrote:Great image....
Bit expensive for a Sundial....
:---(===) *

Not a sundial. Somebody ate too much Taco Bell.

sunlitho wrote:What is the elevation of the cloud deck? I notice a trajectory change after exiting the cloud deck. Wind speed above and below?

Not sure, maybe the early stages of a roll maneuver. But keep in mind that most of the fuel spend by a Space Shuttle is for the horizontal speed needed to obtain orbit. The main reason to go vertical is to get out of the atmosphere as soon as possible.

I found this though:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... earth.html
It allows you to view a Space Shuttle ascent trajectory in Google Earth.

The above image was taken from a shuttle training aircraft by NASA and is not copyrighted.
ok... who or what shot? // ok... quién o qué disparó?

Rothkko wrote:The above image was taken from a shuttle training aircraft by NASA and is not copyrighted.
ok... who or what shot? // ok... quién o qué disparó?

With most launches from Cape Canaveral there are several air planes around monitoring the launch. Especially in cases like this, with a closed cloud cover, it is the only way to visibly monitor the launch progress above the clouds. Usually these are NASA airplanes, sometimes military as well.

And I guess, technically the photo is copyrighted by NASA, but they release them and allow limited use and distribution by the public.
See the http://www.nasa.gov/audience/formedia/f ... lines.html for more info.

Very nice image. Always loved the shuttle. I had the good fortune to be at KSC for the last launch of the Endeavor, although I was under the clouds. If you would like to see what it was like when Endeavor pierced through the veil of thick clouds from below check out the series of images I took. The flames shooting out through the clouds were incredible to observe firsthand:

http://www.gatorchaser.net/astroimages/ ... _small.jpg

http://www.gatorchaser.net/astroimages/ ... 2_crop.jpg

Hope you enjoy them.

Bill

Bill Drelling wrote:Very nice image. Always loved the shuttle. I had the good fortune to be at KSC for the last launch of the Endeavor, although I was under the clouds. If you would like to see what it was like when Endeavor pierced through the veil of thick clouds from below check out the series of images I took. The flames shooting out through the clouds were incredible to observe firsthand:

http://www.gatorchaser.net/astroimages/ ... _small.jpg

http://www.gatorchaser.net/astroimages/ ... 2_crop.jpg

Hope you enjoy them.

Bill

Those are pretty cool!
The only time I had the chance (I seem to recall it was STS-113 in 2002) they scrubbed the launch minutes before it was scheduled.

Craine wrote:And I guess, technically the photo is copyrighted by NASA, but they release them and allow limited use and distribution by the public.

No, there is no copyright at all. Outside a few special cases, they are free to use without limitation.

This is not the only picture taken, was it ?

ta152h0 wrote:This is not the only picture taken, was it ?

There are others. http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... llery.html

Craine wrote: Usually these are NASA airplanes, sometimes military as well.

are good airplanes from NASA, sometimes military, shooting pictures // son buenos los aviones de la NASA, algunas veces militares, disparando fotografías

It's a superb picture . Together with the comparative image that is brought up through the 'below the clouds' link they reminded me of the Joni Mitchell song that had the lyrics:-

"I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all".

there were rumors at work the SR71 had cameras that could be pointed up simply by rotating the nose cone 180 degrees

sunlitho wrote:What is the elevation of the cloud deck? I notice a trajectory change after exiting the cloud deck. Wind speed above and below?

The cloud deck was about 10 seconds into the flight. I happened to be standing under that particular deck of clouds ....with a video camera ....with about 10 seconds of used media on it.....

The cloud deck was about 10 seconds into the flight.

That is about right. Yhe "into the clouds" image linked above was taken with a 135mm camera lens and th3 shuttle is still fairly well resolved...so it was not too high when it entered the clouds.