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A space shuttle launch
by Brent Houston
With the success of the recent Space Shuttle mission under its belt, NASA is now looking forward to the eventual completion of the International Space Station by September of 2010. The long road back to flight culminated with the successful launching of the Space Shuttle Discovery on Tuesday, July 4 after a couple of launch delays.
I was present at the press site for the historic launch. The launch was originally scheduled for Saturday, July 1. I arrived with my friend Sam Gordon - a reporter from a radio station in Oil City, Pennsylvania. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but there were clouds around the area and lightning detected at 19 miles from the launch pad, which scrubbed the launch for that day (launch rules dictated that lightning cannot be present within 20 miles ).
July 4, 2006: On the way to the press site our car is stopped at the gate and is completely searched. Sam and I again show our NASA issued press badges and are waved through to a parking area. In the press briefing room at the press site I watched the big (rear projection) screen in the front of the room. There are also two television monitors on either side of the room.
Anticipation
The room is quiet, so quiet and peaceful, air-conditioned cool, only soft whispering by the few reporters present – watching NASA television. The view on the big screen and the monitors is that of the Space Shuttle on the launch pad. Then it cuts to the crew building where the astronauts are preparing to depart for the launch pad.
The astronauts in their orange space suits walk through a hallway, pass by the camera and step into an elevator as NASA employees applaud. Then a minute later the astronauts suddenly emerge through the open doors at ground level and walk down the ramp waving small American flags as they pass by photographers and step into the astronaut van that will take them to the launch pad. (The "astro van" as it is called, is a long, silver customized RV.) As the door closes I see an armed security guard step in front of the camera holding an M-16 rifle. Then the astro van departs followed by a dark gray armored vehicle that contains more heavily armed security personnel.
This is the cue for the press to leave for the road that the astronauts will travel to the launch pad. We have nine minutes before the astronaut van reaches the spot on the road adjacent to the press site.
The walk takes about three minutes. I have chosen a place just across the way from the launch control center. A lot of people, news media and some NASA personnel, join me, because this is where the van stops and several NASA officials get out to head into the launch control facility. There is great expectancy in the air. The press line up along the rope lining the road edged by a yellow line on both sides.
Off in the distance flying low above the main road I could see a white huey helicopter swing up then back and around then head in our direction. The helicopter was going ahead of the astro van making sure the way was clear and safe and doing all kinds of abrupt maneuvers.
As it passes directly overhead and the heavy chop chop of the helicopter is loud, I see swat clad security men leaning out of the open doors of the helicopter, one on each side of the helicopter, each holding an M-16 while surveying the ground below, ensuring the area is free from danger to the crew. I turn my attention to the road and see a white security car followed by the silver astro van make the bend in the road and come toward us at a good clip.
The astro van slows and comes to a stop right in front of us. The door opens and NASA people get out and head to the launch control center. I am just across the gully from the rope line, forty feet away from the van. I bring my binoculars to my eyes to see close up inside the van. To my surprise - and joy, I can see, inside the door sitting down, an astronaut in his orange space suit. He is smiling gleefully and waving to me (all of us), and he continues to wave, seemingly wildly at times. The door was open for just about a minute, but in this time I got to see one happy astronaut about to embark on his first journey into space.
The Countdown
Back at the press site the countdown clock resumes at T-minus 9 minutes after a long hold. I position myself about 15 feet away from the CNN broadcasting booth; nothing more than scaffolding supporting a platform (and makeshift room) and roof, where Miles O'Brian and his TV crew are covering the launch.
Now one minute remaining before liftoff. Suddenly everything is moving very fast now - it's finally going to happen! I train my binoculars on launch complex 39B as the countdown clock passes through T-minus 20 seconds. The announcer counting down the seconds... 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9...for a moment the situation seems very surreal as all eyes and attention are fixed on a sight some 4 miles away, the gleaming white Space Shuttle for the moment at least, still solidly affixed to the earth bound launch platform upon which it rests. Suddenly I see white smoke billow out to the right of the scene (ignition of the Shuttle's main engines), then a few moments later a tremendous explosion of dark brown smoke to the left of the scene (ignition of the two solid rocket boosters).
| The view is awesome - the tremendous thrust of the solid rocket boosters, twin flames of a brilliant gold like the color of the purest gold bullion |
Launch
The Shuttle is rising now and rapidly clears the launch tower and the view is awesome - the tremendous thrust of the solid rocket boosters, twin flames of a brilliant gold like the color of the purest gold bullion (not totally white as seen on television). The Space Shuttle is climbing higher now and I remove my binoculars just to take it all in. The thundering roar of the Shuttle's rocket engines now reaching the press site. A very surreal sight: what were calm blue skies before launch are now ablaze with the spectacle of fire and smoke cutting through the sky - quite amazing and disbelieving to watch before one's own eyes, it's hard to take it all in.
The Shuttle climbs rapidly and higher into blues skies trailing a gold flame and a continuous stream of dense smoke. As the Shuttle begins to pass through the upper atmosphere, the flame from the boosters is now a pinkish-red color. The Shuttle begins to arc over, now instead of going up it appears like it's going down - from the press site the angle is such that it looks like it's heading "down" range over the Atlantic and on into Space.
As it travels into the heavens, it appears as a bright star trailing a line of fire and smoke behind it. The solid rocket boosters shut down and at separation appear as two tiny little pencils cart wheeling away from the Shuttle as they fall back to earth. The Shuttle continues on its trajectory on its main engines, appearing as a tiny star descending toward the horizon until it disappears from view.
I look up from my binoculars and see a huge cloud of shuttle exhaust smoke rising thousands of feet into the air filling the sky and drifting to the west as it passes the press site. It was an amazing sight - a Space Shuttle launch.
Photo: NASA/KSC
Space Shuttle Discovery launches from pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center, Fla. |
At 9:14 AM on July 17, 2006, the Space shuttle Disovery and her crew landed safely back home at Kennedy Space Center, after a successful 13-day mission.
For more information on Discovery's launch (and landing), visit NASA's STS-121 Launch & Landing page.
For many more photos of Discovery, her crew, and their mission, visit NASA's STS-121 Mission page.
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