Only two more flights for the Space Shuttle program and we’re out of the manned rocketry business until and unless we can figure out a new direction and stick with it. Perhaps expanding humanity to other places than Earth is just another thing we’ll get to watch (and to fund) the Chinese do.
A longer video, but this is from Discovery’s nighttime (dawn) launch last April at Eastertime for [url=http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/sts131_srb_vid.asx]STS-131[/url]. It gives you a sense of how much light those motors put out. See if you can spot the moon.
By the way, traffic following the last launch jammed the highways for many hours. I have read estimates of a quarter million people who came out to see Discovery’s final flight. Still, only two more chances and then they are gone.
Only two more flights for the Space Shuttle program and we’re out of the manned rocketry business until and unless we can figure out a new direction and stick with it. Perhaps expanding humanity to other places than Earth is just another thing we’ll get to watch (and to fund) the Chinese do.
A longer video, but this is from Discovery’s nighttime (dawn) launch last April at Eastertime for [url=http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/sts131_srb_vid.asx]STS-131[/url]. It gives you a sense of how much light those motors put out. See if you can spot the moon.
By the way, traffic following the last launch jammed the highways for many hours. I have read estimates of a quarter million people who came out to see Discovery’s final flight. Still, only two more chances and then they are gone.