STS-133: Last launch of the Shuttle Discovery

[cmdrfire]

STS-134 (Endeavour) is scheduled for 19th April and STS-135 (Atlantis) is baselined for 28th June but pending confirmation.

Endeavour was taken out of the Orbiter Processing Facility earlier today to be taken to Vehicle Assembly Building to be mated with the orange external fuel tank and its solid rocket boosters in preparation for STS-134.

[RedRobin]

[Where's the pic gone?]

^ This is the money shot (as VC calls it) for me  

Wow! As others have already said: A lifetime experience.

It's not the number of breaths we take that matter, but the number of moments which take our breath away.

[cmdrfire]

Which pic is that Robin? I haven't changed any of the flickr links so you should still be able to get it.

A couple more.

SRB flameout. I was surprised I caught this, given how far away it was (T+00:01:50 into the flight, with Discovery approaching 2800mph). This is photo I've uploaded is a 100% crop and bigger than this one, click through and view to see more detail!

Flameout by CmdrFire, on Flickr

The contrail a few minutes after the launch

Contrail by CmdrFire, on Flickr

[RedRobin]

Which pic is that Robin? I haven't changed any of the flickr links so you should still be able to get it.

....This one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmdrfire/5482847326/

[cmdrfire]

I think that's my favourite as well. I'm going to make a more desktop-friendly version of that tomorrow.

[VC]

I think that's my favourite as well. I'm going to make a more desktop-friendly version of that tomorrow.

nice and big please cos i want a copy for my desktop 

[Greeners]

A-mazing! 

Awesome pics considering how far away you were! Can't wait for the vid! 

[RedRobin]

^^^^
I think that being at some distance adds to the drama by putting the launch more in context and perspective 

[Creatz]

i go to florida most years,regrettably had to postpone for this year due to a wedding in vegas.

Last year when i was there,i went to watch a shuttle launch that i was really excited about, something my friend goes nuts about
more than i do, none the less we was both excited to see a shuttle launch.
We checked the website to find the launch had been postponed to the following day........typical the day we fly home,so all we got to
see from orlando intational was the smoke trail 

awesome pictures though mate, will be referring my friend to this forum to come and have a look at them

[keith]

Epic loved the space centre when i was there. a few days after we visited one of the shuttles was coming back in to land the noise it makes when it comes thru the sound barrier was amazing. would love to see the launch.

[cmdrfire]

Anyone wanting a desktop background, go through and grab the original of this, it is sized appropriate for a monitor with resolution 1920x1200


Discovery by CmdrFire, on Flickr


Web browsers seem to display the image with a slightly blue cast, but should be OK once downloaded. Nevertheless I'll try to correct over the next couple of days. Was also thinking of making a background with the mission patch in the corner, thoughts anyone?

i go to florida most years,regrettably had to postpone for this year due to a wedding in vegas.

Last year when i was there,i went to watch a shuttle launch that i was really excited about, something my friend goes nuts about
more than i do, none the less we was both excited to see a shuttle launch.
We checked the website to find the launch had been postponed to the following day........typical the day we fly home,so all we got to
see from orlando intational was the smoke trail 

awesome pictures though mate, will be referring my friend to this forum to come and have a look at them

Even this launch was down to the last few seconds, Discovery launched 3 seconds before the window closed and the launch was nearly scrubbed because of a malfunction on the display on the Range Safety Officer's computer... I was only in Florida for like four days, specifically to see the launch, so a 48-hour scrub would have meant I missed it!
I had a good feeling that this was "the one" though since STS-133 has been postponed since November, so if they're rolling out to the pad they must've been confident.

If your friend clicks through to this set all of the pictures I've uploaded so far are there (including a couple of launch ones I haven't uploaded yet)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmdrfire/sets/72157626030874509/with/5490479000/

[RedRobin]

Anyone wanting a desktop background, go through and grab the original of this, it is sized appropriate for a monitor with resolution 1920x1200

Web browsers seem to display the image with a slightly blue cast, but should be OK once downloaded. Nevertheless I'll try to correct over the next couple of days. Was also thinking of making a background with the mission patch in the corner, thoughts anyone?

....Offer a mission patch version as an additional option so that folks have a choice  (Perhaps that's what you were going to do anyway)

I can almost hear the noise when I look at that shot, Neo 

[VC]

cheers dude 

[cmdrfire]

Anyone wanting a desktop background, go through and grab the original of this, it is sized appropriate for a monitor with resolution 1920x1200

Web browsers seem to display the image with a slightly blue cast, but should be OK once downloaded. Nevertheless I'll try to correct over the next couple of days. Was also thinking of making a background with the mission patch in the corner, thoughts anyone?

....Offer a mission patch version as an additional option so that folks have a choice  (Perhaps that's what you were going to do anyway)

I can almost hear the noise when I look at that shot, Neo 

I'll make another one with the STS-133 mission patch and the NASA meatball, and try to eliminate that blue cast.


Incidentally, everyone - registration for viewing of STS-134 (last flight of Endeavour) opened today!

[cmdrfire]

The fine people at NASA's systems engineering teams made this superb video of the ascent highlights on STS-133. Strongly recommend you watch in HD fullscreen...

Slightly higher res version here. It's about twelve minutes long, worth watching though.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=69829481

No video from me still, though I'm going to get on that now.

Just a reminder to everyone still interested in seeing a launch. Registration for STS-134 is only open until tomorrow. Google "Kennedy Space Center" and you can find the registration page there.