Endeavour to Orbit
Credit & Copyright:
James N. Brown
Birds
don't fly as high.
Airplanes don't go as fast.
The Statue of Liberty
weighs less.
No species
other than human can even comprehend what is going on,
nor could any human just a millennium ago.
The launch of a
rocket bound for space is an event that
inspires awe and challenges description.
The
exhaust column
pictured is from the
Space Shuttle Endeavour after
last week's night launch to visit the
International Space Station.
Endeavour's rocket engines create the dramatic glow from above
the clouds.
From a standing start, the two million kilogram
rocket ship left to circle the
Earth where the
outside air is too thin to breathe and where there is
little
noticeable onboard gravity.
Rockets bound for space are now
launched from somewhere on Earth
about once a week.