The film below is a space shuttle launch from the perspective of a solid rocket booster, one of the giant white rockets attached to the belly of the shuttle during its ascent. Thanks to a tiny camera and contact microphone attached its frame, you can ride along with it as it sends the shuttle into orbit, then free falls back to earth. There’s not much going on visually until the boosters separate at about the two-minute mark–but after that, it’s a film even Stanley Kubrick would be proud of.
This clip was shot during STS-124, a mission flown by the shuttle Atlantis to deliver a new Japanese module to the International Space Station.
Coowal.
?? Call me ignorant, but I thought there was no sound in space??
I got vertigo around 4:39, threw up in my air sickness bag then enjoyed the remainder of the flight.
There would be no sound but this microphone was a contact microphone so the audio comes from the booster itself. Cooling and groaning. I like the low moan as the thin air blows across the mouth of the tubes like blowing across the top of a bottle.
They should have attached some kind of pod with a window and offered rides.
This is how I imagine the transfer from life to death. An immense feeling of detachment as the brain’s last chemical synapses can’t fully process the fatal stimuli. Intelligible sound processing occurs adding to the sense of detachment. Lastly, only mechanical processing by the brain stem (bodily fluids, etc.) gives the last slow-motion sense of being, then black. Or perhaps it’s Brett Favre’s decision making process.
I think I saw the Star Child.
Another cool thing was watching the rocket’s mate pirouette around in near-synchronous motion. They were both kicked off the main tank at similar velocities and angles, so it’s almost like looking at a mirror image of the booster as it spins in the sky.
very cool.
Awesome and trippy. I like the alien jelly fish clinging to the booster as it descends into the sea to start a new colony
@Dallas, thanks for the laugh! Truly an amazing video.
Very cool video. A bit dizzy but well worth the watch.
nifty.
-can i buy a ride on that?
-s
Spectacular-r-r-r!
Not bad.