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Shuttle Cameras Yield Excellent Footage

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the mr-griffin's-wild-ride dept.

Jivecat writes "All those extra cameras NASA has added to the Space Shuttle to watch for debris impacts have yielded what may be the coolest Shuttle launch footage ever. The forward-facing view from the right-hand SRB shows, at about the 2:58 mark, booster separation and Discovery zooming away. Other views are available at the main mission site."

4 of 275 comments (clear)

  1. If you dig a little by Render_Man · · Score: 5, Informative

    on the main mission site linked to in the article, they have an mpeg posted of the seperation

    http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/video/shuttle/ sts-121/mpg/srb_fd01h_ra.mpg

    --
    Where are we going, and why are we in this hand cart?
  2. SRB's never technically leave... by everphilski · · Score: 5, Informative

    The SRB's never technically 'leave' the atmosphere so they can't re-enter. They are going pretty fast but not Mach 25 like the shuttle and station are doing on orbit. Maybe a few (2-4) Mach. Actually the shuttle goes quite slow while the SRB's are on because the atmosphere is so dense at low altitudes (the SRB's are only on for just over 2 minutes) because dynamic pressure builds up quickly ( a linear function of air density and a square of velocity ) so you keep your velocity at a fair clip until the atmosphere thins and then speed up. Long story short the SRB's aren't going that fast, and the cameras are in a good housing. The cam itself is made by these guys

  3. You can see it break the sound barrier. by Abcd1234 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Interestingly, watch closely, a couple minutes in, you can see pressure waves form small clouds on the leading edge of the shuttle as it breaks the sound barrier. *Very* cool stuff...

  4. Some interesting moments timelined by Goldenhawk · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's a LOT of neat stuff in there. For example:

    1:30-1:40 Mach transition (breaking the sound barrier - watch the nose)
    2:39 a rather visible bit of debris flies right past the camera
    2:58 separation from the orbiter/tank stack
    3:59 as the booster tumbles, you can briefly spot the shuttle as a bright dot
    5:18 you can see the smoke plume thru the upper atmosphere
    7:13 some debris goes past the booster camera
    7:17 you can see a shroud (parachute) line falling
    7:25 you can very briefly see a chute
    7:30 water entry
    7:40 the chute falls into the water
    8:00 as the booster floats, the chutes and shroud lines are clearly visible around the booster

    --
    --Brandon / Split Infinity Music