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Watching Discovery Go Up From Ponce Inlet... Wow

Watching Discovery Go Up From Ponce Inlet... Wow

Minutes before the launch I am writing it in exactly 30 minutes after the launch and on NASA's website you can read the following:"With seven astronauts and a host of experiments and equipment on board, space shuttle Discovery completed a flawless ascent into orbit Friday night to begin a two-day chase of the International Space Station. With Commander Rick "C.J. " Sturckow at the controls, the shuttle lifted off on-time at 11:59 p.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The crew will rendezvous and dock with the station Sunday and the crew will begin transferring equipment to the outpost during the 13-day mission."

The news now are moving as fast as the Shuttle Discovery itself. I just walked in after watching this incredible launch. I watched it from our circular garage from the top 7th floor. I was standing there among other residents of The Links at Harbour Village in Ponce Inlet waiting for the launch with my camera ready, even though I was not sure I would be able to catch anything.

I set the ISO for 1600 as it was taking forever to shoot our Ponce Inlet lighthouse. We were looking towards pitch black ocean, which we could not see, and suddenly in the quietness of the night the skies got lit and we saw the ocean, and then a few seconds later we saw this fireball moving fast. i desperately reduced ISO, switched to manual mode as autofocus cold find the target, and the lenses kept moving without focusing on anything.

I was shooting frantically hoping that there would at least be something resembling the beauty and power that I witnessed. Of course, it didn't. On the photo all you see is a ball of fire, and on the garage floor we saw the clouds, the ocean, the separation of solid fuel tanks...

And when the shuttle became just a small star came the roar of the engines, which we did not expect at all, and it stayed with us for some time while the Shuttle was going farther and farther away disappearing in the sky...

Maybe this was the last night launch, and It felt very good to watch it, and once again feel a proud American.

Shuttle Discover Launch We all felt it standing on the top garage floor, and I do not knnow whther they were democrats or republicans. We were simply Americans watching Discovery Go Up From Ponce Inlet... Wow

Shuttle Discovery Launch

Posted by Jon Zolsky, your Daytona Beach, Florida connection on 08/29/2009 12:07 AM

Comments (10)

Shuttle Launch Seen From Ponce Inlet in the Regional (Localism) Channel

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Originally posted at: Jon's Blog: Watching Discovery Go Up From Ponce Inlet... Wow

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10 Comments on Watching Discovery Go Up From Ponce Inlet... Wow

AUG

Wow, wow and wow. What else can one say? You are one lucky fella to experience this. It's hard to believe that real human beings are actually in those photos. Thanks for providing my excitement for the night.

Jon, great photos! they are amazing!

Jenny - even with all the excitement, I still wish you a good quiet night.

Jon, those are awesome pictures! We are able to see it in Vero Beach as well.....it is always exciting to see! Thanks for sharing.

Jon, I've seen a couple of day launches from Melbourne in the past. Always wanted to see a night launch. Amazing!

Tony & Darcy - thanks. Check Gary Woltal's blog, he took better photos, and he was way closer than I was Nighttime Launch Is Fascinating With Space Shuttle

Barbara - thank you. I never tried to do it before, and was not sure how and what to do. It shows. My son made a few very good photos of previous launches, but he was going closer to Titusville.

Check also Gary's blog Nighttime Launch Is Fascinating With Space Shuttle He has terrific photos shot over the water with the reflection of light on the water. Great shots.

Michael - I am amazed at both night and day launches. the most spectacular I have ever seen was the last, I think, Columbia launch just a few months ago. I happened to be on the Beach, but I forgot everything about the launch and was without the camera. It was an evening launch, and it was absolutely magnificent performance of the human genius

Hi Jon, was actually reading the more recent post and you had a link to this one and i missed it. Great memory photos and how it brings back memories of my many years jaunts to Cocoa beach to watch the early flights when people would line the streets , the inter-coastal,the beaches , anywhere people could stand and gaze. Roofs were favorite places but you had to have a blanket for most of the flights as the heat off the roof would burn your. I will back now to the other post and perhaps shed some light for you.

AUG

Jon,

This was the first time I did not drive close to Titusville to take the pictures. Did it many times, and night times shots are just a ball of fire. Daytime shots have that line of gases, that make the whole thing very picturesque. You do not see it during the night launch

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