If you are a space enthusiast, this is well worth 400 seconds of your time for the unique perspective it offers…like strapping a HERO Go Pro camera to a booster and getting it back.
From the upcoming Special Edition Ascent: Commemorating Space Shuttle DVD/BluRay by NASA/Glenn a movie from the point of view of the Solid Rocket Booster with sound mixing and enhancement done by the folks at Skywalker Sound. The sound is all from the camera microphones and not fake or replaced with foley artist sound. The Skywalker sound folks just helped bring it out and make it more audible.
Particularly good view of the sound barrier, though no sonic boom heard from the shuttle side of things. 🙂
Notice the shock wave form and dissipate between 700-800 mph as the Shuttle breaks the sound barrier.
My dad worked on the telemetric side of the Apollo project starting with Apollo 8 through 17. I was just a youngster but watching those rockets take off really inspired me. It’s that inspiration we’re lacking I think – sending our astronauts to Russia for a ride should never have been “ok”. I am a big fan of privatizing space as it will push costs down and make going into space more than just for scientific purposes. Watching this video for me was bittersweet. So many people for so long were engaged in building, supporting, maintaining and readying these vehicles for launch. Now we have next to nothing in the way of human endeavor except for the ISS and launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome… who’s going to go watch those launches or recoveries? Who will be inspired by this kind of effort today?
Apollo ended in 1972 and a shuttle first flew 9 years later in 1981. NASA’s Orion program has a similar development period and will fly approximately 9 years after the final shuttle flight.
It is also a good thing for other countries to step up to the plate and take a swing. Right now we have Russia with low orbit abilities, ESA, and China coming on strong. That is my opinion as to it being a good thing.
I expect to see the strategy play out again, like it did with Russian Sputnik pushing the USA to develop space travel. The best thing that could possibly happen for the US space program is a Chinese manned lunar base.
The history of humans in space will be a long and very interesting story. NASA has some incredibly smart people and they take a very long view.
Ric Werme, thanks for the explanation.
Were those things falling of around 32s – 36s insulating tiles?
OK – it says they were Tyveck covers – whatever that is.
Martin A says:
July 29, 2013 at 4:32 am
> OK – it says they were Tyveck covers – whatever that is.
It’s a misspelling for Tyvek – the very strong paper-like stuff used for vapor barriers in houses, signs people don’t want other people to tear up, etc. They loosely covered rocket nozzles to keep rain and pigeons out while on the pad, and are designed to blow off during launch.
The rocket nozzles in question are used to rotate the shuttle around the three axes in vacuum as flight control surfaces don’t have anything to push against.
How on earth (sic) did they keep the Hero PRO cameras attached throughout that?! Where hasn’t a Hero PRO camera gone? It’s not just for mountain bikers and snowboarders, any more! This has got to be great marketing for the camera.
SJWhiteley says:
July 29, 2013 at 6:45 am
> How on earth (sic) did they keep the Hero PRO cameras attached throughout that?!
I doubt very much that they used Hero PRO cameras, they may not have existed then.
They likely used stuff that was qualified for use in rocket and airplanes.
thanks Ric!
at NAB this year was the NHK 8K video and 3d sound demo with one of the last launches as part of the demo (for those of you who know what 4K video is, that’s so “last year”) – I was at one shuttle launch and two landings – the only thing the demo missed was the chest thumping of the live event and the difference between a Saturn V (I saw Apollo 17 launch) and the shuttle is very different.
With the Apollo the first several seconds of the main engines burn merely reduced the fuel load such that the negative thrust to weight ratio crossed the line to positive after the engines stabilized and then it began a very slow rise that gradually sped up – at almost two miles away you saw the billowing steam as the engines fired then a few seconds later came the unbelievable thumping sound and then this bright speck appears at the base of the rocket and gradually grows longer as the sound increases then decreases as this inverse candle flies to the moon (to this day I still consider it one of the most moving things I’ve ever experienced) – with the shuttle you see the billow of steam as the main engines ignite and can see the assembly rock on the launch pad but once they ignite the SRB’s and blow the bolts (a second or two before the sound hits) it almost leaps off the pad and is gone from sight in a matter of seconds.
the difference in sound is also interesting, with the Saturn V its a constant sound, with the Shuttle’s combo of liquid and solid you get a second or two of that then when the SRB’s light it is almost like there is a continual series of explosions very close together.