Range is green (clear of hazards or malfunctions). The final space shuttle mission is not over, it has only just begun.Story continues Falcon Heavy's post-launch timeline:ĥ:46 p.m. In two days' time, they will rendezvous with the International Space Station and get to work on the objectives of their mission to stock the station with a final delivery of supplies and equipment. Atlantis and her crew are now in orbit around the Earth, travelling at a speed of nearly 28,000 kilometres per hour. A cheer goes up to celebrate the announcement of "MECO", or main engine cut off. I poke my head into the Nasa Tweetup tent where the official Nasa feed is up on the big screen. Friends hug and pat each other on the back and I hear snatches of conversation: "Godspeed Atlantis," "I can't believe it's over" and even a heartbreaking "my job is now obsolete". The excited chatter returns, this time mixed with sniffles and sighs. I'm reassured to see I'm not the only one catching my breath and wiping away tears. I start to notice the other people around me again.
I can even see it curving slightly as the shuttle begins to curve towards its orbital track. I realise this is the shadow of the portion of the column that is above the clouds, and that I can monitor the shuttle's progress by watching the shadow extend further and further to the left. It's drifting to the left of the launch pad but, remarkably, maintains its shape right down to individual billows.Īs my bubble of attention continues to expand, I notice a dark line lengthening from the point where the column of smoke meets the clouds. For a few seconds I can still see the bright spot even through the thin layer, but as that fades, I start to become aware of the column of smoke tracing the shuttle's ascent. I am physically connected to Atlantis now.Īll too fast for me, but right on schedule for Atlantis, she pierces the clouds.
#Watch nasa space shuttle launch skin#
When the sound of the SRBs arrives, however, I not only hear it, I feel the percussive roar on the skin of my face, my chest, my arms. It's a rumble at first, corresponding to main engine start it's loud but not overwhelming. Only when the stack nears the clouds does the sound arrive. It is a planned manoeuvre that positions the shuttle in a heads-down attitude, to achieve orbit but also to minimise the stress of acceleration to Atlantis and her crew. It's a tremendous explosion, after all, and only barely controlled, as the Challenger disaster so tragically brought home.Īccelerating towards the thin cloud layer above, the stack rolls over so that Atlantis is obscured, from my vantage point at Nasa's press site, by the external tank and SRBs. When the familiar shape of the space shuttle appears, my thoughts lurch towards the four humans on board, their courage and their vulnerability.Īs the "stack" (the shuttle together with the external tank and the SRBs) speeds upwards, the flame coming from the main engine and the SRBs is unexpectedly bright – brighter, it seems to me, than the sun. Slowly at first, a colossal weight of metal levitates into view above the scaffolding. Then an even bigger cloud jets out to the left, this one from the solid rocket boosters (SRBs). This is the plume from Atlantis's main engines. What happens next erases all doubt: a white cloud of smoke and steam appears, growing fast from the bottom right side of the pad.
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