liftoff of Discovery, STS133

[drewbert]

Last one is NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden addressing the crowd before the launch.

full size, and a few more shots here

[Chacoguy]

Nice shootin' Tex!!!

[squarepeg]

Way better than mine!!! I tried to video with my phone out one window but light was all wrong and it was overexposed couldn't see it. Here's the con trail from a different window. It was a beautiful day for a launch, thank you for supporting the local economy

[drewbert]

But very cool that you can watch right from home

Originally Posted by squarepeg

thank you for supporting the local economy

Me and the other 27 bazillion people on the Cape that day. I think we got lucky to get through the traffic and off the island in only three hours.

But more lucky to get a spot at the VIP viewing site. My first (and probably last) shuttle launch.

[Lord Blackmore]

Originally Posted by drewbert

But more lucky to get a spot at the VIP viewing site. My first (and probably last) shuttle launch.

STS133 is the last shuttle launch.

Nice pics!

[KidVermicious]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing!

[drewbert]

Originally Posted by Lord Blackmore

STS133 is the last shuttle launch.

Nice pics!

Not quite - at least one more in April and possibly one last flight in June if it's approved. This was the last flight of Discovery, though.

[Mako]

Wonderful shots, thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Discovery and the ISS will be passing over here in about half an hour and I'll be out there looking. We've got perfect skies and the sun has just set, so they should be a nice spectacle.

[Amythyst]

Those are fantastic pics! I watched the launch in my office parking lot with two of my coworkers, but we were too far away to see anything more than the contrails and a brief flash of orange light. Thanks for sharing these.

[Hamadryad]

Just want to chime in with the "awesome" -- excellent pics.

[drewbert]

Thanks all I was happy to see the pictures come out so well. Let's just say I'm glad I came early and brought a laptop to do some testing, otherwise everything would have come out extra blurry.

Me trying to figure out all the buttons on the camera, while my boss takes a picture of me trying to figure out all the buttons on the camera:

[GoSmoke]

Great pics!

I'm sad that there will be no more shuttle launches. I went up to the Cape to watch John Glenn take off and it was amazing. I was on a boat and the noise, the sonic boom and the water rocking the boat after liftoff was incredible.

I'm about 200 miles from the Cape and heard the sonic booms when the shuttle took off. Amazingly cool.

[FarmerBob]

This was sent to me yesterday so I thought I'd pass it along.

Launch seen from airplane

[drewbert]

Video of shuttle approaching ISS, taken from Earth

[Lord Blackmore]

Originally Posted by drewbert

Not quite - at least one more in April and possibly one last flight in June if it's approved. This was the last flight of Discovery, though.

Oh, good news, then.

[Mako]

Originally Posted by Lord Blackmore

Oh, good news, then.

I grew up with Enterprise, Columbia and Challenger, (and Explorer). As a schoolkid in 1970s/80s Fla, they were very much part of my life. But I was shocked when I discovered just how old Atlantis, Discovery and Endeavour really are, (especially since one of them - Endeavour I think - was made up from a new airframe and spare parts to replace Challenger). If they were aircraft, they'd have been pensioned off to a cheap airline by now. They're the equivalent of a 737-300.

I'll make a point of visiting Discovery at the Smithsonian though.

Also: Fantastic video. FarmerBob. Thank you.

[Clayton_e]

Originally Posted by Mako

If they were aircraft, they'd have been pensioned off to a cheap airline by now. They're the equivalent of a 737-300.

Well its apples and oranges for sure, Discovery only went on 39 flights counting this one.. Age was less a factor than politics, the chance that a #3 disaster for the Shuttle program was bound to happen eventually with the type of technology, and future goals of NASA.