She's Off
by Keith Stokes
Title
She's Off
Artist
Keith Stokes
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Launch of STS-132 ...
With about 6 minutes left, we were led in the singing of the national anthem. I don't think I ever enjoyed singing it more.
With 20 seconds remaining, the person on the PA started counting down and most of the crowd joined for the final 10 seconds.
We saw the first spark of the ignition and the shuttle Atlantis began to majestically rise on a tower of flame from the far side of the gantry. It was several seconds before the engine roar carried the two miles to our location. I found the launch very thrilling, but did not "feel" the rumble that many have described. That may have been largely because the wind was blowing from us toward the launch pad. But that wind was a good thing. The clouds given off by the launch can cause a strong acid rain and if they had come our way we would have been ordered into the Saturn V building and busses.
The photograph was taken with a PowerShot SX20 IS set at f/4, shutter speed 1/1,000 second shutter speed and ISO-80.
Uploaded
October 3rd, 2011
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