Posted on 09/02/2009 7:14:05 AM PDT by paul in cape
Discovery's Rainbow
Explanation: Just one minute before midnight EDT, Friday, August 28, the Space Shuttle Discovery began a long arc into a cloudy sky.
Following the launch, a bright and remarkably colorful trail was captured in this time exposure from the Banana River Viewing Site, looking east toward pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center.
On STS-128, Discovery docked with the International Space Station Sunday evening.
The 13-day mission will exchange space station crew members and deliver more than 7 tons of supplies and equipment.
Of course, the equipment includes the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (COLBERT).
WOW!
That’s the best picture of a night shuttle launch I’ve ever seen...that shot includes staging of the SRB’s and it clearly shows how the boosters get the shuttle up above the heaviest part of the atmosphere, where the acceleration to orbital speed really starts...
That had to have lit up the coast of Florida for miles. With that kind of clear conditions, I wonder how far away that launch was visible...
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