Breathtaking Photo Of Space Shuttle Launch!

These pics were taken from a chase plane (WB-57). Amazing eh?

Imagine how cool it must have been to sit there and see the Shuttle blast off then get closer and closer in seconds!







Found them here and though it says these photos where taken from the ISS. They were not.

McP.

Wow. I would not be surprised if those pictures classified.

exactly what kind of "chase" plane flies that high?

hmmmm


but yeah it would be cool to see

The shot that shows the inside of the canopy was take from somewhere around 60,000 to 80,000 feet. Several US military aircraft can fly that high.

Its looks spectacular because most air travelers have never been higher than 40,000 ft and have never seen the dark sky and the curved horizon.

I guess it's also possible it was taken from the ISS with a telephoto lens.

I found this nasa webpage about the WB-57 chase planes.

The image file names say it's taken 220 miles up from the ISS. Whether that's a mistake or not i have nfi. Fantastic pix tho, ta

This screen capture form Google shows approximatley the same perspective as the second picture. You'll see the eye altitude is approx 13.5 miles which is about 71,000 feet.


[img] i128.photobucket.com...[/img]

Any in higher-res?


They'd make a great PC desktop!

Look what the text shows under the Picture "Space_Shuttle_Launch_as_seen_from_ISS_220_miles_up"
seems to be shot from the International-Spacestation

Excellent pictures!!!!!!!

Its hard to believe they were taken from iss as it looks too low but it would seem thats what the tags say. I would lean towards a high alt aircraft of some sort though.

That picture alone makes you realise how fragile we are and how small in comparison our space programs are. All said and done, Excellent pics

VERY NICE!!!

It would seem that that bottom pic is taken from a cockpit rather than a bay window. But I am not experienced enough with either to make that call, perhaps someone with a background in aeronautics could comment on the shape/design of the "window frame" in the bottom right of the picture.

I'm almost certain the bottom pic was taken from the WB57 chase plane - check out the link in my earlier post.

Yeah I know it says that but I could take a picture of a turnip and call it a swede underneath. Honestly, I lost the link now but it was a good site which had lots of info on the chaser jets used to take this pic.

WB-57 Chase Planes - NASA