Comments on: Video and audio from jettisoned solid rocket boosters, STS-124

Video and audio from jettisoned solid rocket boosters, STS-124

not_on_display — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:26:21 -0800

Video and audio from a camera mounted on one of the side solid rocket boosters during the launch of STS-124. As the camera is initially facing the main booster, there's not that much to see (except water vapor collecting on the lens and interesting-looking changes in the main booster's surface) until around 1:50, when the booster rocket is jettisoned. After that, enjoy the ride from space to splashdown, but watch out for flying debris! Here's the view from the other booster, without sound. More onboard STS cameras, previously. [N.B. -- Adjust volume accordingly, it gets loud! Looks even better in high-quality and full-screen modes.]

By: crapmatic

crapmatic — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:36:58 -0800

Man, I wish they'd air stuff like this on the NASA Channel during launches, rather than the burned-in-screen view of the control room.

By: netbros

netbros — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:39:56 -0800

I haven't had bed spins since high school. Thanks.

By: 517

517 — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:40:35 -0800

My life needs more shuttle launches in it.

By: jouke

jouke — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 20:47:51 -0800

It's amazing how good the images that we see are, given that it seems to be from a fixed camera. Awesome.

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:19:26 -0800

A lot happens in 7 minutes. The sound on this is very cool. I don't understand why the boosters don' burn up on re-entry, or perhaps they are not high enough, but they seem like they are in space.

By: intermod

intermod — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:19:47 -0800

Oh, man, you have no idea how much awesome material is out there. I'll just give you ONE PERCENT of it here. 1. www.space-multimedia.nl.eu.org is a gift from heaven. All NASA video for download right there. For any particular selected video, don't settle for the flash embed -- be sure to click through to the download screen and take a couple minutes to pull it down. 2. Go here and enter "STS-126" in the Filter box for a gazillion videos from just the most recent mission 3. STS-126 - ASCENT FLIGHT CONTROL TEAM VIDEO REPLAY is just about the best thing there is for hardcore nerds. 4. Thought any of that was boring? Well, prepare to wet your pants, because here's the best SRB camera of them all, the money shot as it were. Watch the whole thing, or jump ahead to the 2:15 mark. That is not a simulation, it's real. We get that shot with every launch now.

By: Auden

Auden — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:24:02 -0800

The shuttle's solid booster - the Sisyphus of the rocket world, pushing that flying rock up the hill and falling down again for all of eternity (or until 2011, whichever comes first) Awesome post, beautiful video, thank you.

By: hooray

hooray — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:24:33 -0800

Wow, the sound and the parachutes on that second video is just fantastic. What an amazing view!

By: intermod

intermod — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:24:39 -0800

I don't understand why the boosters don' burn up on re-entry The boosters are sub-orbital and land back in the Atlantic about 150 miles offshore. They don't have enough energy (speed) to create the friction would burn them up on the way down. Alan Shepard did a suborbital flight, as did the SpaceShipOne test flights.

By: The Tensor

The Tensor — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:45:38 -0800

I always get the shakes before a drop.

By: troy

troy — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:25:08 -0800

F'in amazing transition into space. I thought we were still on the ground on the countdown when the boosters were jettisoned LOL. Felt so real, just goes to show how important sound design is in any sim.

By: FatherDagon

FatherDagon — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:25:15 -0800

Wow, I was watching that at the beginning and started to skip forward a bit at the beginning. Then I got to 1:50 or so and straight up HSTISCOL'd.* *"Holy Shit that is So Cool!" Out Loud

By: Mister Cheese

Mister Cheese — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:39:47 -0800

I love these. There was one particular STS camera video posted in an earlier thread that I found really surreal. First time I'd seen a video like this. The ending where you see the parachutes and hear the lapping of water against the fallen boosters just seemed so alien to me ...like some kind of dream of the future.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:42:09 -0800

intermod: Oh, man, you have no idea how much awesome material is out there. I'll just give you ONE PERCENT of it here. Holy crap, thank you for this! Seeing and falling through the trail of glowing ash from the other booster rocket (during a dark-sky launch) and then hearing the ashes as they tink off of the rocket... I love MetaFilter.

By: LordSludge

LordSludge — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:46:57 -0800

Amazing footage!! It's almost unbelievable how the other booster is kept in frame for so long. I mean, literally, my inner skeptic is calling "bullshit, that's too good!"

By: forallmankind

forallmankind — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:55:25 -0800

Yes; that is easily the most awesome thing I've ever seen - thanks.

By: Kronos_to_Earth

Kronos_to_Earth — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 23:20:24 -0800

This is nice. Like the end of "Dr. Strangelove" without the cataclysm. Although, it is kind of eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

By: mandal

mandal — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 01:27:15 -0800

Fantastic, but very scary during the last minute or so with all those jellyfish attacking.

By: 6am

6am — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 02:12:08 -0800

Not sure if I'm the only one, but in recent years I've found myself unable to watch things like this without constantly wanting to burst into tears throughout...

By: srboisvert

srboisvert — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:09:19 -0800

That was pretty much what i imagine while listening to radiohead.

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:05:54 -0800

I feel sorry for the cameramen on those shots!

By: brownpau

brownpau — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:32:26 -0800

This is a self-link. I have been collecting these, among other spaceflight videos.

By: DU

DU — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 04:52:40 -0800

I like how the Shuttle just continues on without a care in the world after dooming the helpful booster to death. The booster separates and it's all "Wait, WHAT? Screw you toooooooo....ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*smash*"

By: Busithoth

Busithoth — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 06:53:32 -0800

not death, DU, they gets recycled (which blows my mind when I think of what inspections are necessary...) thanks for this!

By: proj

proj — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:07:33 -0800

What is the rocket that goes shooting by at 4:30?

By: Pollomacho

Pollomacho — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:11:15 -0800

What is the rocket that goes shooting by at 4:30? I think that is one of the boom mics getting into the shot on the sound stage, or are the NASA videos all CGI these days?

By: intermod

intermod — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 07:55:01 -0800

Claymation.

By: intermod

intermod — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:00:20 -0800

Seriously, all I see at that point is the sun and a couple lens artifacts. If you live near the Gulf coast in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama or Florida, go outside at the appropriate time early this afternoon and watch a rare shuttle+SCA flyover (click through the later pages to get the latest status and lots of pics).

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:10:56 -0800

proj: What is the rocket that goes shooting by at 4:30? That's no rocket, that's my wife! Err, I mean, I am just glad to see you! Actually, I think that trail of whatever(?) is coming from the booster itself; another trail can be seen emanating from the other booster in the distance. But I'm curious, too... is the trail because of some interaction with the atmosphere? Is it part of a stabilizing mechanism? Or is it a great fnord conspiracy, like in the novels where space wars are really happening? Also, I just googlemapped to figure out where the boosters are when you can see the Florida coastline below.... it's about 150 miles North of Cape Canaveral. At 3:15ish, you can see that river that leads up to Jacksonville. Here's my rough estimate.

By: Science!

Science! — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:17:23 -0800

What is the rocket that goes shooting by at 4:30? I'd like to know as well. From ~4:30-4:50 it looks like there is a smoke/vapor trail heading away from the camera, another in the distance, and one that could be the trail from the shuttle. Anyone able to clarify these with actual information?

By: ROU_Xenophobe

ROU_Xenophobe — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:17:56 -0800

I don't understand why the boosters don' burn up on re-entry, or perhaps they are not high enough From googling, SRB sep is usually at about 150000 feet and about 4000 mph / 6500 km/h. Which would still hurt you real bad if you stuck your face out the window at sea level. But it's a far cry from orbital speed. AFAIK, most of the job of the SRBs is to just lift the shuttle out of most of the atmosphere, after which the main engines have a much easier time accelerating it to orbital speed.

By: Science!

Science! — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:24:06 -0800

There a a ton of shots of those trails in this video starting at ~2:00, I think it's just the SRBs crossing into their own trails as they tumble.

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 08:42:07 -0800

Wow, terrific stuff in the post and thread. Thanks!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:03:30 -0800

Science!: There a a ton of shots of those trails in this video starting at ~2:00, I think it's just the SRBs crossing into their own trails as they tumble. However, those trails end pretty soon afterward. In the video you link to, from ~4:03 to ~4:30 -- particularly at 4:05 where you can see a column from the other booster in the distance (I think?) and at 4:26, from itself -- that's what I'm wondering about. It also seems to come after a howling noise.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:22:45 -0800

I may be confused, though... looking around 4:40, it does seem the trail comes from another source...

By: Quietgal

Quietgal — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 09:52:16 -0800

Wow! The ending, where the parachutes drift down trailing their tentacles, is good enough to be Hollywood. A bit hard to believe it's real, actually. Great post, and thanks intermod for jumping in with more nerdporn. 6am, I'm also a big softie for awesome feats of technology, exploration and adventure. Those Mars landers and their dang blogs get me every time.

By: joe lisboa

joe lisboa — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:12:54 -0800

My god, it's full of starfish!

By: joe lisboa

joe lisboa — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 10:13:07 -0800

(seriously awesome vids, thanks)

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:11:25 -0800

omgomgomg *runs to get back in line right away* And is that the moon we're seeing bouncing around the horizon, or some very regular lens flare?

By: dirigibleman

dirigibleman — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 11:44:24 -0800

So I looked outside at the appropriate time for the shuttle flyover. I saw two contrails going in roughly the appropriate direction, but I couldn't tell which of the tiny, imperceptible dots had a space shuttle on top.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:03:37 -0800

Ambrosia Voyeur: And is that the moon we're seeing bouncing around the horizon, or some very regular lens flare? That's the sun!

By: Ambrosia Voyeur

Ambrosia Voyeur — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 01:56:55 -0800

no, no, no, silly. THAT ONE. *points over your shoulder impossibly and with no effect whatever.*

By: WCityMike

WCityMike — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 09:57:39 -0800

In the original post, booster separation at 1:54 and parachute deployment at 5:57.

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 11:55:26 -0800

Ambrosia Voyeur: no, no, no, silly. THAT ONE. *points over your shoulder impossibly and with no effect whatever.* That's a streetlight, and it's bouncing around the horizon because you've been drinking!

By: not_on_display

not_on_display — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 14:25:03 -0800

D'OH! Lost my tool bag and it floated away!

By: mrzarquon

mrzarquon — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:37:29 -0800

Big Picture does a series on a Shuttle mission from prep to launch (and rocket recovery) to landing.