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Space Shuttle Endeavour: Into the Night

nasa.gov — The Space Shuttle Endeavour lights up the early morning sky at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

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  • geekofweek, on 03/11/2008, -3/+20NASA FTW
    • GuerillaC, on 03/12/2008, -3/+0It's amazing that NASA is so good that GOING INTO SPACE is no longer a big deal. Definitely NASA FTW
  • e03179, on 03/11/2008, -0/+19I was standing in front of the Launch Control Center to witness the launch. The ceiling was about 6000-ft so I only got to see it burn for about 15 seconds. However, I got to see a lot of KSC the prior day and was trilled to be witness to the launch. I just got home and threw up some pics here to my Flickr page: http://flickr.com/photos/ericatkins/archives/date- ...
    • whiteknives, on 03/11/2008, -0/+4Aha! That explains it. I was watching it online and wondered why there were no shots of the shuttle from the ground after liftoff.
    • captoftheworld, on 03/11/2008, -0/+1I thought that you were saying that you vomited for a sec there lol
      Nice pics.
    • Quicksilver4648, on 03/12/2008, -0/+1Even though I live in central Florida, I havn't been to Kennedy Space Center in a looong time. I know they have updated so much stuff. I just hope they still have that space dot ice-cream, its so good.
  • amneosis, on 03/11/2008, -7/+2wow cool, space!

    Let's go!
  • UtahApocalyse, on 03/11/2008, -0/+7I watched this live via NASA Tv online. It so amazing to get to see. You should watch some of the space walks this week.
  • TehFonz, on 03/11/2008, -4/+23What’s with the giant smudge just to the left of the shuttle?? FAKE!! PHOTOSHOPPED!!
    • b3and1p, on 03/11/2008, -1/+7I dunno why this is being dugg down, there has obviously been some work done on this in photoshop. It looks like a really bad cloning job, can anyone guess what it was?
    • KillaJazzBass, on 03/11/2008, -0/+5I was wondering the SAME EXACT THING.
    • jhuebel, on 03/11/2008, -6/+2Could be something akin to a lens flare.
    • kuyman, on 03/11/2008, -0/+5No, it's what you get when you set it to spot heal mode and set it to generate texture...

      I smell a watermark removal :)
    • a2fan, on 03/12/2008, -0/+0It's a smudged fingerprint.
    • airiox, on 03/12/2008, -0/+1It was an alien spacecraft, they have to cover it up. Shadow puppetmaster overlords, etc, etc. /rollseyes
  • jhuebel, on 03/11/2008, -0/+6Still spectacular, even after almost 30 years.
  • AugustZephyr, on 03/11/2008, -0/+9I was there, this was amazing. The whole night sky lit up instantly. Unfortunately the shuttle was above the clouds in a matter of seconds, so we didn't get to see it for very long.
    • DaviDTC, on 03/11/2008, -0/+3Wish I would of saw this before I made my comment below, now it just looks retarded =/
  • DaviDTC, on 03/11/2008, -0/+3I was disappointed with the camera work they did with NASA TV. They showed the launch and what seemed like 10 seconds later they went to a camera on the shuttle and it was almost pitch black. Not sure how bad the cloud cover was there, but I would of liked to see the camera from the ground tracking the shuttle up as far as it could see with big flames coming out and the glow in the night sky.
    • centran, on 03/11/2008, -0/+3There was low cloud cover. A comment above said 6000 feet. There is a video that shows it going into the clouds. You can only see if for about 10-15 seconds before it was in the clouds and there was just an glow coming from the clouds for a little while.
      • tbom, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2SPECI KTTS 110628Z 05002KT 10SM OVC065 16/14 A3020 RMK SLP227 8SC /8/ N3602/02 C0502/03 S0502/03
        Per the above observation at the shuttle landing site (about 4.5 miles west), the sky was overcast at 6500'.
    • Tempest261, on 03/12/2008, -0/+1The cloud cover was horrible. I don't live far away (in fact I used to work on the boosters- got to sit right next to Endeavour a number of times), and I got up at 2:20 AM just to see it, and I saw... nothing. A lot of people at work said the same. Damn weather.
  • markp93, on 03/11/2008, -0/+22if you scroll down really fast while making a whooshhh sound, it's like you're really there!
  • MoralThreat, on 03/11/2008, -2/+3All I ask is for a tall ship and a star to stear her by.
  • AugustZephyr, on 03/11/2008, -0/+11Here is a video of the launch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq292AwjFtw
    • willfe, on 03/12/2008, -0/+6Heh. Neat. I shot that video and uploaded it -- I honestly didn't expect to see it get noticed (thanks, AugustZephyr).

      In case anyone's wondering, yes, there was audio in the original recording, and I deemed it entirely not worth encoding/uploading -- it was a few people counting down to zero, then cheering, then lots of goofy giggling/chuckling as the shuttle vanished into the clouds. There was the traditional rumble a few minutes later, but it didn't seem like anybody would have wanted to sit through two minutes of people murmuring, bitching about the cloud cover, all for a bit of rumble... :)
    • kjcdude, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2Wow that video is way cooler than the pic
  • solidanaconda, on 03/11/2008, -2/+25I can't believe people gripe about spending $36 per American family per year to keep this thing running.

    The war costs that much every two weeks.
  • cheese06, on 03/11/2008, -0/+5Carl Sagan explains the enormity of the universe, and how miniscule we really are. http://youtube.com/watch?v=2pfwY2TNehw
    if you don't get emotional over this video than you are cyborg
  • andygazi, on 03/11/2008, -0/+2Thanks for the cool wallpaper!
  • greenlight2001, on 03/11/2008, -0/+4geek porn
  • eddy23170, on 03/11/2008, -1/+7while other countries throw stones....we do this......awesome....
  • chw944, on 03/11/2008, -0/+2I blasted out Highway 50 at 2:08 AM hoping to see it. I went past a trooper in the median while doing 125 and he didn't even follow. Needless to say, I got close enough to see it. Y'all are right, though; the cloud ceiling was looooowww. From my vantage point I maybe saw 8 seconds of shuttle.
    • willfe, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2I was in Titusville to watch the launch -- about 30 seconds total before it vanished into the clouds, but it's among the most spectacular things I've ever seen. Worth camping out on a good spot for a couple hours and a two hour fight in traffic afterward? Meh ... I'm on the fence. But still, *wow*.
  • Satanael, on 03/11/2008, -3/+8What the hell is the giant smudge to the left of the ship? Looks like something was photoshopped out of the picture.
    /conspiracy
  • csb92376, on 03/11/2008, -1/+2I thought NASA wasn't launching at night any more... I guess they took that back.
    • willfe, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2They launched at night in December 2006 as well. This one was rumored to be the last night shot though before the shuttle program ends :(
    • supermanred, on 03/12/2008, -2/+1Military payload most likely? :)
  • FredFredrickson, on 03/11/2008, -1/+4Why does the picture look like someone did a really ***** job of cloning something out to the left of the shuttle?
  • Knucklecallus, on 03/11/2008, -1/+5And the Trogdor comes in the NIIIIGHT!!!
  • blankfrack, on 03/12/2008, -5/+0Computer generated
  • DpNo1, on 03/12/2008, -2/+3must have been aliens in the smudge
    +1 conspiracy
  • ricopicouk, on 03/12/2008, -0/+3How would you go about taking a photo like this? I would have thought the brightness from the jets would overpower the exposure settings.
    The balance apears to be generally good in this shot.
    • supermanred, on 03/12/2008, -0/+1That's some hot burning powdered aluminum, brother! Hot as *****!
  • ZimFreak, on 03/12/2008, -0/+6Digg if this is your new wallpaper
  • camino262, on 03/12/2008, -0/+3The blur is from the intense light produced by the rocket motors generating 6,780,000 pounds of force lifting the 4,474,574 pound orbiter into the atmosphere. That takes a massive amount of energy, and some of that energy is lost as photons in the visible light spectrum that happened to be captured by this camera's lens. That was fun looking up those numbers :)
    • supermanred, on 03/12/2008, -0/+3Actually, it is most likely sonic vibrations reacting with the water. Most of the "smoke" you see below the shuttle comes from a gigantic water system that fills the concrete area of the launchpad below the shuttle with TORRENTS of water to absorb the sound of the engines.

      If it wasn't for these gigantic water sprays dispersing the sonic vibrations of the sound coming from the engines, the concrete launch pad would disintegrate, along with the towers and ***** all around it would collapse and be pulverized. I'd bet the crowd watching the show would go deaf for a while too.

      That's more than likely why the shuttle launches from areas near water, gotta have quite a supply of water for that.
  • manmademark, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2Living in Florida, central Florida specifically, is a real treat. I've been watching this thing launch for as long as I can remember. I live about 60 miles away from the launch site. I'm rarely up early enough anymore but as a kid, I used to watch this thing soar above all the houses while waiting miserably for the bus in the mornings before elementary school. I've taken it for granted, this picture really makes me want to get out there and watch a launch from ground zero.
  • supermanred, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2Nice to see the Shuttles still ticking after all these years, let's not forget the USS Enterprise flew it's test flights starting Feb 17 1977 at Ellington Field.

    Time to update the fleet. This time I hope they don't name the first one USS Enterprise, as it would be nice to hear on the news stories about the USS Enterprise's current mission...and LIVE from the Enterprise here is Captain Jack Harkness or whatever...

    Maybe they could name the first edition of the next "shuttle" Columbia or Challenger in honor.
  • Wander2000, on 03/12/2008, -0/+3All these worlds belong to you, except Europa. Attempt no landings there.
  • broodking, on 03/12/2008, -0/+2looks like ive found a new desktop background
  • concretewave, on 03/12/2008, -0/+3Maybe it's just me but space and shuttle/rocket related pictures never get old. They always look gorgeous to me.
  • shawbin, on 03/12/2008, -0/+1Here's another video of it, with sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blsdrMTc1DI
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