STS-128 (Discovery)
As seen from the Saturn V Visitors Center at Kennedy Space Center, FL (aka Banana Creek VIP Site, distance to pad: 3.9 miles)
Scrubbed August 25th, 2009, launched August 28th, 2009
My friend David Gonzales has a nice video of the launch from the same perspective.
LC39B, the northernmost launch pad, at the time undergoing conversion for use with Ares launch vehicles. The three towers with strobes are lightning masts.
Today the pad is being dismantled following the cancellation of the Constellation program.
This is LC39A, the only pad left for the shuttle program. Behind the tower sits the shuttle stack with Discovery. Powerful xenon lights illuminate the pad and can be seen for miles. To the left of the pad stands the 300,000 gallon water tower for the Sound Suppression System, which releases just before the engines ignite. The system prevents the shuttle from being damaged by its own Earth-rattling sound.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip site
Rain descends on the pad, seriously reducing our hopes for a launch on the 25th.
Lightning followed the rain, diminishing any chance for a launch. Almost every possible weather violation was now in place.
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It's now the 28th, the third scheduled attempt. This is the view at a wide angle, giving a good idea of what the pad looks like on the horizon. The xenon lights are spectacular in their own right.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
A vertically oriented version of the last shot, demonstrating the height of the rays thrown by the xenon lights.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
Liftoff! After nearly a week of lost sleep, driving between Florida's coasts, waiting on buses, and hauling around camera gear, the words "Main engine start," have never sounded so good.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
This is a horizontal crop of the previous frame.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
It was all over in less than an minute, but it was an intense and memorable minute. Here the plume lingers over the launch pad, still lit by the xenon lights.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
Steam rises from the launch pad. Discovery, meanwhile, is already well over the Atlantic, hundreds of miles downrange.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
Excess hydrogen continues to burn off at the flare stack, left of the water tower.
spaceshuttlenasaksckennedy space centerspace shuttleLC39LC39Adiscoverysts128banana creeksaturn v visitors centervip sitenight launch
