This isn’t from the current launch but it is my favorite YouTube video that I watch often and it always gives me chills.
It is a Discovery launch that is annotated with trajectory and speed information as well as commentary on the 7 minute ride into space. It gives an excellent view of both how and how fast things happen during a shuttle launch. Watch it full screen if you can.
I went to see a launch in person once. (For 20 minutes. :D)
It was an awesome experience. First the rocket goes up, and then you feel the rumble through your bones.
And of course it’s always the clearest blue sky ever, and you watch the little light go up and up until you can’t see it any more.
Still gives me chills thinking about it.
What happened? I was watching A Connie Chung Christmas, sorry.
Why wast coverage on space when there are real issues here on Earth, like Britney’s kids or regifted dogs?
Very cool. Also, interesting note, at about 2:10, the announcer voice mentions Lisa Nowak as one of the astronauts, she of the diapers and cross-country drive.
I watched it. I was raised by a guy who was raised almost as much by Asimov and Heinlein as by his parents, so it launches were a staple in my house. It didn’t hurt that my older sister was fascinated by space from the start, and for years my dad was managing a project designing satellites.
Is there more urgent, arguably-more-important stuff we could spend even the little funding NASA gets on? Sure. Is it worth it? Hell yes. I dare any of the naysayers to sit down and actually watch a launch. Sit there and watch something that man built just go up, and up, and up, and up, until you can’t see it, and then it’s still going up. Truly watch that and then tell me that it’s not worthwhile. How incredible is the shuttle? Each SRB (the white rockets) provide almost 3 million pounds of thrust - almost 6 million total - and those alone aren’t enough to get it into orbit.
<familial bragging>My sister spent a summer working on return-to-flight analysis at NASA. She’s also in the process of trying to get into a test pilot program with the eventual goal of getting from there into astronaut training.</familial bragging>
Was that in 1962?