DISCOVERY JULY 4th, 2006

ABOVE: SRB Separation from Discovery

SEPTEMBER 9th, 2006

ATLANTIS LAUNCH - ROLLED TO SAME PAD (TWICE) ... FROM SAME VIEW - taken about 1 second apart each (but for pre-launch pictures, taken about 5 seconds apart)

DISCOVERY DECEMBER 9th,  2006

For scale, the Vehicle Assembly Building is the square at right, much closer and Larger than the Shuttle as it lifts off from Launch Pad 39B. THIS WAS THE LAST launch of a Shuttle from Launch Pad 39B - EVER. Pad 39A is the small light between the two, and is even further than 39A.

No, it's not a Tactical Nuke. It's the launch pad cloud at bottom and the SRB Plume, with the bright light from the SRB's beginning to turn night into day.

Here the Shuttle approaches Mach 1 and has "throttled down." It is headed straight for the illuminated clouds in the upper layer, and I can only imagine what the view would be like of approaching those at super-sonic speeds from the Cockpit.

Here the Shuttle Discovery is beginning to "throttle up" and is passing through the high-level thin clouds, illuminating them as it passes.

In an even wider-area zoom, you can still see the launch pad and ground-effect shear. You can see the mid-level shear and on the other side of the clouds, because they are thin, you can see the Shuttle accelerate towards space. Here, Discovery is making a turn towards an arc before dropping the SRB's.

Night quickly returns to the city as the SRB's burn out and separate, yet the bright star in the sky - the 3 main engines of the Orbiter, can be seen for the next 6 minutes all the way to orbit.