November 13, 2006: Shuttle launch from above

Happy Monkey sent me to this blog entry which has these lovely launch shots, but the entry gets it wrong as HM notes; these are probably not from the ISS, but from some sort of NASA chase plane. What's alarming and annoying is the usual date stamp which as xoB notes elsewhere on the Cellar, tend to ruin every photo they appear on. It makes it seem like this is some sort of vacation shot, but surely no commercial jet is allowed to get this close to the airspace.



Still, I hadn't seen them before and they are striking. I hadn't seen any launch images from above before - only from the ground, which is striking enough.

Nice.

Possibly a chase plane crew member's personal camera? I mean, I can't imagine what scientific use such obviously nontechnical photos would have served, so I'm guessing that someone just took the opportunity to get a quick personal shot or two while they were on board the chase plane.

According to Snopes, it's (likely) the NASA/JSC WB-57 High Altitude Research aircraft.

(and so ends my first post)

kewl

Really awesome image.

I saved it, zoomed it WAY in on my PC (good monitor, high res, etc etc) and still could not QUITE make out whether that light thing-a-ma-jiggie at the top of the smoke trail is the SHUTTLE or the flame from its engines. Anyone?

My guess would be the flame from the SRBs since they have not finished burning.

edit: and the shuttle, from that distance, would be less than a pixel.

Great F.P. coot, thanks for the detail.

Undertoad wrote:

What's alarming and annoying is the usual date stamp which as xoB notes elsewhere on the Cellar, tend to ruin every photo they appear on.

Yes they are always annoying. Luckily these ones are over very plain areas so they could easily be disappeared with Photoshop or similar.

Great shots all the same!

cooties wrote:

According to Snopes, it's (likely) the NASA/JSC WB-57 High Altitude Research aircraft.

(and so ends my first post)

Welcome!

Does anyone have a link to a larger version?

Looks like it's taking off from A Big Blue Marble....uh, you can use that. ;)

Notice the sky has got black in it but is NOT all black. This is not the ISS. Since it is NOT all black.. But it is from a higher than normally achievable altitude, (because of the black), so it is from a high altitude platform.

Neat pictures! Wish I could see the originals.

There's a bunch of satellites taking pictures all the time, could be one of them. Or maybe part of Google's plot for world domination. :lol:

Like this: Google Announces Plan To Destroy All Information It Can't Index?

Here we go:
http://www.nasa.gov/returntoflight/launch/wb57_chasejets.html

To me, the last link doesn't explain the dates in photos or the bit of cockpit or shroud in photos. Fwiw. But I don't think they were made from a small plane. Wonder how high? Altitude!

65,000 ft for the above plane. http://suborbital.nasa.gov/platforms/aircraft/wb-57.html

Good find, that's an interesting plane. Good design, but poor material choices led to premature wing cracking and expensive repairs, so only the two given to NASA by the Air Force are still flying. :yelgreedy

The United States Air Force first got interested in the Canberra, as well as many other aircraft, in 1950 when it was looking for a replacement for the aging Douglas B-26 Invader. The Air Force was to make its final selection for the replacement aircraft after a final demonstration in February of 1951. The B-57 was flown in by the Royal Air Force for the demonstration, making the flight across the Atlantic in four hours and forty minutes, setting an unofficial record time for the crossing in either direction. This was also the first unrefuelled Atlantic crossing by any jet-powered aircraft. Coming into the demonstration flight with such fan-fare, the Canberra easily stole the show, and won the contract.

;)

busterb wrote:

To me, the last link doesn't explain the dates in photos or the bit of cockpit or shroud in photos. Fwiw. But I don't think they were made from a small plane. Wonder how high? Altitude!

I agree, buster. Seriously doubt they are from the imaging system but the pilot probably had a personal camera with him.

its really amazin' , never seen a shuttle launch from above, but is that really a shuttle launch? if yes, whats the aeroplane (the guy taking the pics probably is in an aeroplane) doing in space?

134340 wrote:

... whats the aeroplane (the guy taking the pics probably is in an aeroplane) doing in space?

Sometimes, its better not to know...