STS-126
Kennedy Space Center
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| Scott, Ian and
Bird headed down to KSC for the final night launch of the Space Shuttle
fleet. The Shuttle Endeavour took off from launch pad 39A at 7:55 pm on
November 14, 2008... it was AWESOME!!! As soon as the sun went down KSC became very dark; the only illumination came from the launch pad where the shuttle was sitting waiting to launch and the shuttle landing facility (emergency abort runway). At approx. T minus 6 seconds that all changed when the main engines light. There was a distinct glow coming from the launch pad and then came the solids... WOW. The entire Space Coast lit-up. A few seconds later Endeavour rose from a huge cloud of smoke and started to gain altitude. As the Shuttle accelerated thru the period of maximum dynamic pressure (approx. T plus 30 seconds) you could see the shock waves forming around the front of the launch vehicle in the night sky around it. Right about this time I realized all this was happening in complete silence which was about to change... the sound of the engines finally reached us on the NASA causeway six miles from the pad. Holy cow... the rumble felt in my chest was incredible! Then approx. 2 minutes into flight the two SRB's (solid rocket boosters) burned out and then were jettisoned from the LV. What a sight to see the SRB's separate and burn out as they begin to fall toward the ocean. For the next several minutes the glow of the three main engines was incredible. Soon the three engines became one bright glow as the shuttle orbiter gained altitude. Just short of orbital velocity around eight & a half minutes from liftoff, was main engine cutoff and the external tank was jettisoned. At first we thought we lost the orbiter in cloud cover but we soon realized the sky was perfectly clear... we just witnessed main engine shutdown and the Shuttle enter orbit! Holy cow! After a few seconds I finally lose sight of the orbiter after 8.5 minutes and a speed of approx. 17,000 mph : - ) I am in awe. I found a great website with some details about the Space Shuttle mission basics. If you have never witnessed a launch in person it is a must do before the Shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. You will not be disappointed. Here are some pictures from the trip... there will be a video clip to follow so remember to check back soon.
Here are a couple links to the
launch;
NASA TV video and a
Causeway video |
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