It's pictures like this that still leave you in awe of mankind's technology

[Herman Munster]

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. WOW!!

Very cool! :applause:

[Suich]

2. Is that from tonight? n/t

[Herman Munster]

6. yes

it was taken in Daytona Beach, about 50 miles north of the launch site.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. space shuttle?

very cool.

[MuseRider]

4. Thanks

we missed it! I was so sad, I love to watch them go up but this is a really fabulous picture. Pretty amazing isn't it?

[Taxloss]

5. That is VERY beautiful. n/t

[Mythsaje]

7. In one of his novels Spider Robinson

describes a trip to the Cape to witness a launch and I remember being awestruck by the whole notion of it. Before that moment I'd never felt a particular urge to see one, but afterward, hell yeah. Spider is one of those authors I look up to.

That is an awesome pic.

[conscious evolution]

14. Seeing a shuttle or rocket launch

is some thing everybody should see in person at least once in their life.

Pictures and video are fine but until you actually see and hear and feel the experience you are missing out on one of the most aweinspiring events you could ever imagine.

[Mythsaje]

16. I got that impression...

He talks about how you can feel it all the way through you, a vibration so deep it seems to plunge all the way down to your soul. If I ever make it down that way (and that's on my itinerary someday, along with the Keys themselves--also a part of that book) I'm going to witness a launch.

[conscious evolution]

18. He is right

Youcan literally see the sound coming towards you.And when it hits it takes your breathe away.

[Mythsaje]

20. I consider Spider

one of the greatest sci-fi authors. His Callahan series is a MUST-READ for any liberal, as far as I'm concerned. It's not your usual sci-fi by any means. I laughed and cried my way through all of those books.

The way he described the launch climbed right inside of me and lived there.

[pitohui]

28. you've got to be kidding

a weak and bitter writer no offense

kim stanley robertson is another matter

[Mythsaje]

30. The empath?

I don't think so.

Nice guy. Real humanist.

Why in the hell would you call him weak and bitter?

[ellenfl]

8. we saw a bit of it . . . until the two humongous clouds

got in the way. great pic.

ellen fl

[SeattleGirl]

9. Holy cow, but that is one awesome picture!

:bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[rzemanfl]

10. Great picture. n/t

[heldmyw]

11. Thanks for that!

Make me feel better... that's all.

[piedmont]

12. Great pic! What was the exposure length?

[drm604]

13. I wanted to see an Apollo launch

but I was a child and too young to just head off to Florida on my own. Now I keep thinking I want to see a shuttle launch but if I don't do it soon then I probably never will because there may not be too many more of them. I'll only have myself to blame. Great picture, thanks for posting it.

[jeff30997]

17. I was there in 1969 when Apollo 11 took off...

But I was only 2 years old and I don't remember a thing! :cry:

[drm604]

22. I watched it on TV

and I was old enough to appreciate it and have memories of it. I guess I should be grateful for that. We really believed it was the beginning of something big, but it all just sort of fizzled out over time. At the time I thought I would vacation on the Moon one day.

[karlrschneider]

15. I know some DUers think this is a waste of money and time, and understand

their reasoning, but as a scientist, engineer and pilot, this gives me hopeful chills. Great pic, thanks.
ks

[NYCGirl]

19. Pursuing knowledge and human exploration is never a waste of money or time.

If we, as a species, stopped doing things like this, our minds and our souls would wither and die.

[Warren DeMontague]

25. Imagine how much more knowledge and human exploration we could fund

with the money we use to kill people in other countries and to incarcerate pot smokers here at home.

[NYCGirl]

26. Quite true. The budget for NASA is miniscule compared to military spending.

[Warren DeMontague]

27. Crazy. That half trillion a year towards the M/I complex could fund a whole slew of stuff...

SPHC system, good schools.. and a better NASA and science budget. It boggles the mind.

[pitohui]

29. nasa funding is military funding

christ are people still this naive?

[Warren DeMontague]

35. No it isn't. When the Military wants bucks, you think they need to go through NASA?

They get everything they want on a big, fat, gold fucking platter. They don't need to "hide" appropriations in NASA's puny budget.

The Rovers on Mars? The Cassini probe to Saturn? The Hubble Space Telescope? The value gained by humanity in scientific knowledge and understanding has been immense. The value gained by the military? Zilch.

[conscious evolution]

38. Frankly,it would not

bother me one bit if we took the defense budget and spent it on space exploration instead.

I say switch the budget allocations.

[Mythsaje]

21. We HAVE to reach outward for places we haven't been...

to see things we haven't seen. It's one of the things that has driven us from the dawn of time.

I STRONGLY support the space program and would like to see more private enterprise in it too. I'd like to see a thousand lines of innovation and exploration rather than just the few we have now.

I'm in a minority here, I know. But, then again, it's been a long time since I minded being 'odd man out.'

[buddysmellgood]

33. I think the majority supports what you describe. NASA no longer exemplifies it.

NASA is a shadow. We could do so much with a fraction of the money spent on the war.

[happydreams]

43. Not until we've reached inward to places we haven't been. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

47. For one, those things aren't mutually exclusive.

Two, increasing our understanding of the Universe increases our understanding of ourselves.

[happydreams]

51. Expansionism and introspection seem to be mutually

exclusive. I for one don't think we should'nt even consider going to other planets, stars etc. and fucking them up until we clean up this shit-house mess here on Earth.

For all we know Earth is in quarantine and that is the reason why SETI has been unsuccessful. :tinfoilhat:

[Warren DeMontague]

46. I don't think you're in a minority here. I think a lot of DUers support science and exploration.

That's been my experience, at least. I know I do.

[Warren DeMontague]

24. Not this one.

Humanity MUST explore.

[Speck Tater]

23. You're right. Those sure are some nice boats! But what's that light? (nt)

[dysfunctional press]

31. it looks like the camera might have a light leak in the film carrier...

it totally ruined those beautiful clouds, too.

[NMMNG]

32. Beautiful n/t

[gerrilea]

34. Guys I don't want to pee in your Wheaties but...

I read an article either in Astronomy magazine a few years back that reported that EPA studies showed that PFC's from the rocket fuel was showing up in our lettuce grown in California...and has contaminated the waters in a five hundred mile radius around the Florida Cape. PFC's as I understand them are known cancer causing agents. The frog's that have three eyes or 5 legs...these toxic chemicals used to lift the space shuttle are a major factor in the destruction of the environment...too bad for us I guess.

I know these nighttime launches are a beautiful sight and I too stand in awe of our own technology...but we are killing ourselves with this technology and our planet...

But alas, the younger generations will not know the truth since the EPA's libraries are being shredded so that the scientific facts and studies that we've all paid for will not get out...

There has to be a better way to get into space...such as magnetic bullets that travel along the ground picking up speed over a five mile track...speeds that will allow aircraft to overcome the gravity of the planet...NO Chemicals used that can come back in the plants and water we digest.

:think:

[Warren DeMontague]

37. I don't know if you can blame NASA and the space shuttle for all the perchlorates in the water.

Here's a hint: The military has manufactured and fired a shitload more rockets than NASA ever has.

Not to mention, there are other sources besides rocket fuel.

[AZCat]

40. Toxic chemicals used to lift the space shuttle?

I may have missed something along the lines somewhere, but I was pretty sure that the space shuttle was powered by hydrogen and oxygen (producing only water as a product).

The other rockets they send up I don't know about, but I thought this was the driver for the shuttles since the beginning.

[jmowreader]

41. The solid rocket boosters contain perchlorate oxidizer

There's ammonium perchlorate, aluminum, and some plasticky stuff in the SRB fuel.

The main engines run on hydrogen and oxygen.

[AZCat]

50. Ahhh - thanks.

I knew a DUer would have the answer. :)

[roguevalley]

36. an alaskan is flying it. *preen* *pose* *suck up someone else's

glory just a little bit*

[applegrove]

39. Wow.

[GETPLANING]

42. It also moves amazingly fast.

It goes up in a bright, flaming flash and is gone from view in about 30 seconds. Awesome photo!

[Graybeard]

44. 2Kings 6:17...

"...and behold, the mountain was full of horses and
chariots of fire round about Elisha." 

[IWantPeace]

45. great picture!

n/t

[leftofthedial]

48. yeah. those boats are hot.

I hope we find a new planet for the rich people to escape to now that they've fucked up the earth. I'll spend anything for that.

[LibraLiz1973]

49. that is AMAZING