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.

The no-shuttle-launch blues

The moon, after rising over the Atlantic off Cocoa Beach on a night that was supposed to feature a shuttle launch. There's a man smoking a cigarette - or something - at the end of the walkway. I saw 99 percent of the moon and 0 percent of the shuttle.

I'm really not in the mood for words right now. I get enough of them at work. And today? Well, it's a furlough day, or unpaid leave, or a pay cut. And today, I'm not supposed to have anything to do with work.

That's why a shuttle launch would have been a good thing to keep my mind of words, those things that define my existence. It was supposed to be a visual spectacular. I readied my digital SLR, my film camera and my high-definition video camera. I was even poised to buy a third tripod for the 9:20 p.m. launch.

But no. NASA couldn't properly fuel the external tank for shuttle Discovery. A valve sprang a leak 20 minutes before the tank was full. I got word - via text message, from co-workers - that the launch had been scrubbed, just before I was about to leave for a front-row seat in Titusville.

The mission's start was delayed until at least Sunday, when it'll lift off - if all goes well - at 7:43 p.m., which is 12 minutes after sunset. At that time, the conditions won't be dark enough for a timed exposure, which bummed me out. It was to be my second try at a nighttime shot of a shuttle, the first being exactly one year ago when I failed miserably trying to capture Atlantis on March 11, 2008.

Discovery's streaking arch in a timed exposure could have been either ruined or made more interesting by a nearly full moon. I took my camera out to the beach, despite there being no launch, and watched the reddish satellite rise over the Atlantic Ocean. The photos of its rise were miserable, but I snapped a few after it had been hanging in the air for a while. They were still bad, but not quite as bad.

As for Discovery, NASA wants to shoot it up Sunday, allowing for the fullest mission as possible. But I don't have Sunday off from work. How do I describe that? There are no words.

From the Archives | NASA really can put on a show

The view of space shuttle Discovery from south Cocoa Beach on Oct. 23. It was my first launch.

I was digging into the pre-Offlede photo archives when I came across some shots of the first shuttle launch I witnessed.

It was Oct. 23, and Discovery was set to launch at 11:38 a.m. I was living on the beach in Cocoa Beach, which isn't far from Kennedy Space Center, but I was too lazy to get out of bed and get closer to the launch pad for the liftoff.

Instead, I rolled out of bed 10 minutes before the launch and walked across the street to the beach, armed with my camera, and waited for the thing to head into space.

Being a rookie shuttle gawker, I didn't know what to expect. I was looking about five miles to the east of the actual launch pad when I saw the glow of the rocket boosters.

I hadn't expected such a cool sight or sound. The rockets glared, and the engines blared. (Incidentally, this Saturday, I heard the double boom of the shuttle during re-entry for the first time. In fact, it woke me up around 11:13 a.m.)

Discovery's STS-120 mission delivered the Harmony module to the International Space Station. (Yes, I do believe FLORIDA TODAY capitalized on that great opportunity for word play and used "Launch Harmony" or something similar for the headline.)

I'm glad I don't live in Cocoa Beach anymore: The apartment was a dump. (Incidentally, I may have to find a new apartment soon if this house I'm in now garners any interest on the real estate market.) But I do miss walking across the street to watch one of the greatest shows on Earth.

Since my first launch, I will never make such a lackadaisical effort to view a shuttle launch. I can't wait for the next one, which should be early in the morning on Oct. 8. I'm returning from vacation in San Francisco and Napa Valley late on Oct. 7, so a glorious evening launch will be a great way to cap a great break from work.

I lived in the old Baptist church in Cocoa Beach, which was converted into apartments. And of course, the old church is next to the new church. But the predecessor of that steeple you see in front of Discovery's trail fell during Hurricane Frances in 2004.