A hazy final shuttle launch and a hazy future

I wasn't permitted to get close to the launch because it would've meant getting stuck in traffic and being unable to respond to and cover breaking news, which is my job. So I went here, to a high point along South Tropical Trail on Merritt Island. The haze was too much, though.

The final space shuttle launch, of Atlantis, was disappointing photographically because clouds once again obstructed my view. It's also disappointing simply because the shuttle program was one of two things that made Brevard County interesting and exciting, and now they're both gone.

Tweeting with the tweeps on Twitter at the NASA tweetup

In this panorama, a shelf cloud from a severe thunderstorm moved over the Vehicle Assembly Building, delaying the retraction of shuttle Endeavour's rotating service structure. See full version here.

Celebrity "tweep" Seth Green watched astronaut Clay Anderson.

On April 28 and 29, I had the privilege of representing my employer, the Florida Today newspaper, at NASA's "tweetup" of a space shuttle Endeavour launch attempt.

The fourth such event was an accumulation of 150 Twitter users who were randomly selected from thousands of applicants. They came from 43 states, the District of Columbia and six foreign lands.

You can find my tweets at @spaceteam. My personal Twitter handle is @offlede.

It was a chance for ordinary fans of NASA to get a behind-the-scenes perspective of Kennedy Space Center. At their base at the historic Launch Complex 39 press site -- three miles from the launch pad -- the "tweeps" listened to astronauts and scientists talk about their jobs and the upcoming STS-134 mission. We were taken on a tour of KSC, which included stops at the Shuttle Landing Facility, the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Saturn V Center -- all free of charge, of course.

We had been schedule to watch the rotating service structure be retracted, revealing the shuttle on the night before the launch. But a thunderstorm delayed that launch milestone, making it too late in the evening for the tweeps to watch.

Some celebrities -- such as actors LeVar Burton of "Star Trek," Seth Green of "Austin Powers" and an actor known by many as simply "Jerry the Desk Guy from 'ER'" -- were special invitees of NASA. They mingled with the ordinary tweeps and posted similar updates to their personal Twitter feeds.

Here are some photos from Day 1, before the two-day event was supposed to be culminated with Endeavour's launch.

Astronaut Clay Anderson surrounded by Twitter-equipped electronics.

The tweetup tent at the press site was air-conditioned.

Johnson Space Center experts showed off a spacesuit, or an extravehicular mobility unit, or EMU.

Celebrity tweep LeVar Burton of "Star Trek" and "Reading Rainbow" fame.

Local tweep Julie Deily signs her own autograph for actor Seth Green of "Austin Powers" and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

A 400-acre brush fire burned three miles from the launch pad, but there was no danger, just lingering smoke.

We took a tour of KSC and saw a fleet of T-38 training aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility.

Sun bounced off the Vehicle Assembly Building, the next stop on the tweeps' tour.

Through a VAB door, tweeps looked at a mobile launcher platform.

Inside the VAB.

Tweeps marveled at the VAB's innards.

At top is a crane used to move the shuttle.

Storm clouds started to build as the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean seabreezes collided ahead of a cold front moving over Central Florida.

Captured a little lightning in the distance.


The shelf cloud began to move over the space center late in the afternoon.

It was one of the most colorful such clouds I'd seen.

Talk about a dark cloud over NASA.

There were a few lightning "crawlers," one of which is seen here above the launch pad and the countdown clock.

The VAB around sunset. Another storm would come later, further delaying launch operations.

Some mammatus clouds above the historic flagpole. The weather-induced delays prevented the tweeps from making a trip to the launch pad and seeing the shuttle bathed in beams of spotlights.

And here are some pics from my iPhone, which made it easier to post immediately to Twitter:

The one day this sign is actually grammatically incorrect. Grr.


All my various credentials.


The "mate-demate device," which workers use to get a shuttle off the 747 that sometimes carries it from California.


An external tank and a pair of solid rocket boosters were being prepared in the VAB for space shuttle Atlantis' final mission this summer.


The tweeps in the VAB.


Seth Green's girlfriend took a picture of the actor and our tour guide.


A section of an SRB.


The "ER" actor, Abe Benrubi, stood next to a warning sign at the VAB.


The shuttle's crawler transporter.


A packed Saturn V Center.

My big camera snapping pics of lightning.

One more photo of shuttle Atlantis' piggyback flyover

A Boeing 747 carrying the space shuttle banks toward the coast, giving beachgoers a spectacular view that people here have not stopped talking about.

I realized that I didn't post a photo with a better view of the shuttle itself when a Boeing 747 carried Atlantis over the Space Coast. In all the images that I did publish, the carrier aircraft was more visible than the spaceship.

After looking through my collection, I realized that I didn't get much - only this fuzzy photo as the airplane turned toward the shoreline. The aircraft made this leftward bank farther out over the Atlantic, still a bit too much to ask of my budget zoom lens.

Video | Oohs, aahs (and awws) as shuttle weaves the clouds

Shuttle Atlantis lifts off from Kennedy Space Center on STS-125, in a more horizontal version of a photo I snapped.

After starting the video, click the "HD" button in the right corner (so it's red) to watch in high definition.

While I fired Monday at Atlantis with my digital camera, I let my video camera run beside me, recording the launch untouched. The lens was set to wide angle in an effort to get as much of the shuttle's trip from Kennedy Space Center as possible.

All that makes for a less-than-spectacular video, but what it does show is how the spaceship cut through the clouds during its ascent. At least that was the sight from Space View Park in Titusville. Spectators at different angles in other parts of Brevard County were able to see more of the eastward trail.

The audio in this clip turned out to be too loud, beyond the range that can be caught on tape. It is difficult to capture the sound of the shuttle without having the reaction of the crowd overpower it. Unfortunately, the people standing around me - many of whom had not viewed a launch before - provided the most dominant audio. But it is amusing to hear how they cheered with joy and jeered with disappointment as Atlantis went in and out of sight.

Atlantis launch | Just NASA doing its thing and me doing mine

Shuttle Atlantis rises over Launch Complex 39A at Cape Canaveral, Fla. This was the view from the banks of the Indian River in Titusville, about 15 miles away.

As you can see, Atlantis is rotating so that the external fuel tank soon would obstruct our view.

Left: A cropped-in vertical version just after liftoff of Atlantis. The heat of the engines and the haze in the atmosphere causes a blurry effect in the plumes.


This post marks the end of a simultaneously frustrating and ultimately gratifying day of photography.

Considering the night editor I am, it started earlier than usual: 7 a.m. I wanted to arrive at Titusville's Space View Park about five hours before the launch of shuttle Atlantis at 2:01 p.m. Monday. It was the first day of my 20 months in Florida that I had to dedicate solely to photographing a shuttle. I wanted a clear view from the banks of the Indian River of launch pad 39A.

Not to my surprise, a lot of other people had the same idea. But I found a spot about 9:30 a.m. where I was able to set up my video camera and new Nikon D90 still camera. It had an unobstructed view of the launch pad, about 15 miles away, with piers in the foreground.

In addition to the view, the good things about Space View Park is that the Mission Control radio feed is blasted over loudspeakers. There also were iconic Hubble Space Telescope photos available for free and burgers and dogs available for a small price. Orlando media tend to broadcast live from the site, too.

A crew from WESH 2, the Orlando NBC affiliate, interviews a couple of spectators.

I set up and waited. With a former co-worker of mine, I sat with sweat dripping off my hat and through my jeans and longsleeve shirt. The temperature was 91, unseasonably warm for May. Not even SPF 2000 - to protect all my 2,000 parts - is effective on my skin. The full complement of clothing, though, successfully blocked the sun.

The benefit of having a partner photographer was that I was able to take a break, grab a cooling milkshake at the nearby Burger King and not fear that somebody was making off with my expensive picture-taking equipment.

What couldn't be prevented, however, were the latecomers who thought they deserved to set up their chairs, umbrellas and full-size coolers in front of us. To them, I say: For one thing, you need to come early to get a spot like the one we had. For the next thing, you'll be waiting for an hour - an hour. Why do you need a cooler full of ice, sandwiches and pre-popped popcorn.

Like many spectators at Space View Park, this shuttle fan spoke with a strong English accent. Many countries were represented.

But it is nice to know that the space program, despite the decreasing hype over the years, still draws a diverse crowd. There were families from London, Scotland and Melbourne, Australia - a lot of representatives from other English-speaking lands. They are welcomed warmly. (The losers who set up in front of us, though? Not so much.) I talked for a while to a man from northern England, who was sitting next to me. We commiserated over the state of our industries: he in the automotive sector; I, of course, in newspapers. Being from England, he wasn't used to such heat, though he said he often vacations in Florida and is thinking about retiring here.

Pretty clouds arrive on the scene in Titusville. Oddly enough, this turned out to be one of my favorite photos of the day.

While the weather was irritating for the long-haul spectators, it was good for NASA. But as the launch time neared, clouds started to move in over Kennedy Space Center. They provided relief for launch watchers, but they weren't as welcomed when Atlantis roared to life.

Contrary to what I had been told and what I had read, the shuttle shot straight up. It makes sense, too, because its course was due east from KSC, but I thought Atlantis was to arc from left to right, taking it into the rare orbit of the Hubble Space Telescope. But my sources were wrong, resulting in the video I took featuring the shuttle only in the left one-third of the frame. I'll post that later.

The profile of Atlantis was visible at liftoff. Soon after, though, the shuttle rolled, and the spaceship's external fuel tank blocked our view.

And the clouds had set in so thickly that the best sight was immediately after liftoff. Atlantis weaved in and out of the clouds for a minute, then disappeared. One of the best parts of the launch, the separation of the solid rocket boosters, wasn't visible. The first launch I ever saw on the Space Coast - of shuttle Discovery, which I watched lift off from outside my apartment in Cocoa Beach - had the best weather I have seen thus far. View that image here.

Despite a degree of disappointment, the early trip to Titusville was worth it. I got to hang out with not one, but two laid-off copy editors and talk with people from foreign lands. I distributed my business card to people who admired my large 150-500mm Sigma lens. Some said they weren't able to get good photos, so they wanted me to hook them up. And though the haze made the photos less than spectacular, they were my lens' best effort.

Once again, though, NASA put on a spectacular show with the start of STS-125. I waited more than four hours for something that lasted less than four minutes. But a shuttle launch truly is one of the most awesome sights a human being can experience. John Kelly, FLORIDA TODAY's local editor and space columnist, conveys that eloquently in his Monday piece.

I can't wait for the next launch.

A spectator points upward toward the rising shuttle, which was mostly out of view at this point. The cloud in the background is from the launch.

Shooting the moon, but looking forward to shooting a shuttle

The nearly full moon in partly cloudy skies over Central Florida. Click on the image for a high-resolution version.

Just hours from now, I will wake up and make the 40-minute drive to Titusville, across the river from NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

This is the first opportunity I have had to arrive about five hours early to Space View Park, which has the closest nonpaid direct viewing area of launch pad 39A, from which shuttle Atlantis is set to lift off at 2:01 p.m. For each launch, thousands of people crowd the park that's about 15 miles from the pad. My intent is to get there before most everyone, snag a prime viewing spot along the Indian River and wait for the launch.

In tow will be my new Nikon D90 and 150-500mm Sigma lens, both of which I purchased for the main reason of photographing shuttle and rocket launches from KSC. I also will have my tripods and video camera, as well as a few books and magazines to keep me occupied during the wait.

Spectators will get the pleasure of watching the shuttle arc from left to right. On missions to the International Space Station, the trail goes from right to left when seen from Space View Park. But because this risky mission is to the Hubble Space Telescope, we'll be in for a different sight.

Astronaut John Grunsfeld, who was involved in planning the Hubble repair mission when Columbia broke up during re-entry, wants to use the telescope to photograph the moon. (See that story on FLORIDA TODAY's Web site.) So, in honor of that, I shot the moon just moments ago.

T-minus 12 hours and counting.

1 gorgeous launch, and 140 photos that didn't do it justice

Discovery lifts over the Atlantic, as seen from the shores of the Indian River in Palm Shores.

The shuttle, after it had reached sunlight.

Red-tinted contrails left behind.

Update: News 14, a 24-hour cable station in Raleigh, N.C., republished, with permission, The Offlede's photos of Discovery's launch on STS-119. Tony Antonelli, the shuttle's pilot, was raised in Fayetteville, N.C. The Web story is here.

I called this one.

As I mentioned Wednesday, the post-sunset launch of shuttle Discovery would be a pretty one, yes, but a very difficult one to capture with a digital camera.

Come 7:43 p.m. Sunday, I was proved right.

I skipped out of work about 15 minutes before the launch, scurried down the highway to a local park beside the Indian River north of Melbourne, sat on the rocks and waited.

My location was about 30 miles south of Kennedy Space Center, so my expectations weren't high in the first place.

At ignition, Discovery's twin solid rocket boosters burned brightly, casting a reflection on the river. That's something you don't get during the day, of course.

But the most beautiful part of the launch was when the shuttle flew into the light of the setting sun - literally up into the sunset - as it climbed toward space.

The contrails glowed with red, orange, blue and white. It was sort of a rainbow with colors stretching its width instead of its length.

But because the most beautiful part of the launch was when Discovery was bathed in sunlight, it was difficult to expose for rest of the frame, which was covered in twilight.

Film might allow for a higher contrast and a better product, but who shoots film these days?

Other obstacles to good photos: a high ISO, which, though necessary to allow for proper lighting, makes the final product extremely grainy on lower-end digital SLRs such as mine; a slower shutter speed, again necessary for lighting purposes but tends to allow motion blur; and poor focusing, again a product of the light.

Nevertheless, I shot 140 photos in a period of a few minutes. But they would have been so much better if the launch was an hour later or an hour earlier. Darn NASA has to hit its target, though.

Back at work, we had a difficult time choosing a lede front-page photo from a staff shooter for most of the reasons I mentioned above.

There are only nine more shuttle launches left to get the perfect photo.

As for rockets, my next try will be Tuesday, when an Atlas V is set to blast off in a nighttime launch. There's always the issue of weather, though, and the forecast isn't looking great for that launch.

But even if it's scrubbed, it will be rescheduled, offering another chance at a another view and another photo. It's probably the only benefit to living on the Space Coast.

Vertical images: Top, people still watching Discovery after the solid rocket boosters separated; middle, a view of the shuttle at separation; bottom, just before separation (I know, I know, it's reverse chronological order, so sue me)

Zoomed in at 200mm, shortly after liftoff.

Discovery, as seen from Palm Shores, Fla., just south of the Pineda Causeway, which you can see in the photo.