General > Photography Section

STS-133: Last launch of the Shuttle Discovery

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MPS:
If ever there was an appropriate moment to say the word, after seeing them photos, now is the time to use it - EPIC!  :congrats:

cmdrfire:

--- Quote from: apollo13 on February 28, 2011, 03:34:53 pm ---I got back this morning from Florida

I've been wanting to go for ages and I'm so glad I did, It was an amazing experience.

It lifts off in silence as the NASA causeway is around 6 miles away fron the launch site (I'm lead to believe its the nearest public viewing site) about 25-30 secs in you hear the rumble and then as it banks the sound turns to an awesome crackle.

Even Mrs Apollo was speechless  :grin:

--- End quote ---

Crikey, were you at the Causeway as well?! We should have met up!

The causeway is indeed the closest public viewing area. There's a slightly closer viewing area north of the pad (3.5 miles) for NASA staff and VIPs but from pad 39A the Shuttle is hidden behind the gantry so the causeway was the best view (and will be for Endeavour and Atlantis as well, as Pad 39B is being converted for Ares).

Edit: on another note, did you take the tour to the Saturn V building? With your username I hope you did!

apollo13:
Yes I was at the causeway! It was a time like that, that I wish I had a decent camera. The point and shot doesn't do it any justice but the experience was the main thing for me really.

I have some photos and also a video, I'll post them up when I get a chance.

I certainly did go to see the Saturn V building   :grin:

Out of interest did you drive there or where you on a dolphin/grayline tour? It took us 5hrs to get back to Lake Buena Vista!!

cmdrfire:
We drove, and it took four hours to get back to Orlando! Traffic afterwards was terrible.

I'd done a lot of reading on launch photography prior to going and all the advice more or less said "if this is likely to be your first and only time, don't take a camera, and view with your own eyes rather than through a viewfinder" which was an excellent point, but I couldn't not take photos... so I had all my equipment set up beforehand on tripods with a remote release for the stills and started filming as soon as we got a "go" from the Range (talk about leaving it to the last second! I got grey hairs because of that range safety officer!).

I've got some hd video shot with a 28mm lens which I'll try to get up later this evening.


I agree though, that the experience is the main thing, and the photos are incidental - we're never going to be able to take anything as good as the official NASA shots anyway!

94Luke:
Wow... just wow... that's all I can say really, bet it was a sight to behold. Pictures are fantastic too, didn't realise how much it banked so soon. When are the last 2 launches? Would love to see one  :happy2:

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