A Space Shuttle Climbs to Orbit
You are going into space.
New small cameras allow anyone with a
web browser
to virtually ride along with the
space shuttle,
at times from numerous angles, as it launches into
Earth orbit.
Small cameras mounted on the tall thin
solid rocket boosters have captured last week's launch of the
Space Shuttle Discovery
from a unique perspective and in fascinating detail.
The above movie picks up just before the
space shuttle separated from the thin boosters.
The tiles on the
bottom of the shuttle are clearly visible.
As the movie progresses, the shuttle Discovery and its brown
external fuel tank break away from the boosters and continue onward and upward.
The new cameras not only make
cool movies
-- they help NASA monitor details of its
shuttle launches better,
with the promise of making future rocket launches safer and more efficient.