NASA may not be an agency known for its commitment to aesthetic filmmaking, but they've managed to produce one of the most beautiful clips of footage I've watched in years.
The film below is a space shuttle launch from the perspective of a solid rocket booster, one of the giant white rockets attached to the belly of the shuttle during its ascent. Thanks to a tiny camera and contact microphone attached its frame, you can ride along with it as it sends the shuttle into orbit, then free falls back to earth. There's not much going on visually until the boosters separate at about the two-minute mark--but after that, it's a film even Stanley Kubrick would be proud of.
This clip was shot during STS-124, a mission flown by the shuttle Discovery to deliver a new Japanese module to the International Space Station.
Got a favorite science-related video? Send it our way! Just comment with a link below.
August 18, 2010 10:21 AM
Fascinating video! This was an absolutely awesome perspective viewpoint! Going to share this one!
August 18, 2010 10:31 AM
The science video that I think is most significant lately is one where a modular robot (CkBot) illustrates the strength of modular system by copying another robot ( PR2 form WillowGarage) this is a important step towards a universal machine.
Mini-PR2 constructed using CkBot modules
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suStKs2hSv8
Per
August 18, 2010 10:46 AM
For the first time, it felt as though our planet earth was a my baby and I was observing footage of it in a sonogram. How cool is that? Would love to know if anyone else experiences the same thing after this viewing. Stats: SWF with no offspring.
August 18, 2010 11:03 AM
It was also fascinating seeing the changes in the external fuel tank over those two minutes...
August 18, 2010 11:15 AM
@Roberta Page, wanna come over and watch Nova this Sunday?
August 18, 2010 11:37 AM
Wow, some minutes after watching the video I'm still absolutly overwhelmed. I have to admit that I feel a little dizzy too. Imagine if the SRBs would sink to the bottom of the ocean while covering video footage.
The videos which are filmed by a camera at the external tank are also awesome, at least until ET seperation.
August 18, 2010 12:09 PM
That was amazing, even more so David you are absolutely breath taking... seriously.
August 18, 2010 12:14 PM
The SRBs are not attached to the belly of the Shuttle, but to the external tank. That's what killed _Challenger_. Hot gas from a leaking joint impinged directly on the tank, slicing it like a cutting torch.
NASA has similar recordings from many launches. There are cameras all over the outside of the components of the stack. Though this is the best of these I've seen.
August 18, 2010 1:41 PM
This is the most beautiful and thrilling real-life space video ever filmed, with otherwordly sights and sounds. Check out the image at 4:37-4:38, where in a single frame you can see the trails from the launch, the shuttle as it rockets skyward, and the other booster as it falls to earth.
August 18, 2010 2:14 PM
Turn down the volume from this and play this at the same time for the audio...to get the full Space Odyssey effect...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTqlLKBKFhg
August 18, 2010 4:18 PM
http://www.stankruslicky.com
Amazing, I have always had a interest in space. with my photography I try to capture the universe also
August 18, 2010 4:35 PM
my photography I try to capture the souls of Pacific Islanders and their pets.
August 18, 2010 4:47 PM
Oh wow, OK looks like that is gonna be fun!
Lou
August 18, 2010 6:24 PM
Here you go:
http://www.youtubedoubler.com/?video1=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3D3uk_viH4Unw&start1=85&video2=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DVTqlLKBKFhg&start2=0&authorName=DaveUpton
August 18, 2010 6:27 PM
Is there somewhere you can download this in high res?
August 18, 2010 6:31 PM
question for the experts: what's happening to the SRB around the 4:50 minute mark? It seems to hit some serious turbulance and/or crosses the arc of a contrail.
simply amazing footage, thanks a million.
August 18, 2010 9:33 PM
Wow, great sequence. Love how you can hear the fuel draining in space then it's just silence till the atmosphere
August 18, 2010 10:28 PM
http://tubedubber.com/#3uk_viH4Unw:ch4vpSVhZBU:1:100:95:0:true
sync the release of the tanks when the song says: 'whoa'
August 18, 2010 11:20 PM
wonderful video!
found similar footage with music in youtube (Boards of Canada - Skyliner)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYjE6h_S5dM
August 18, 2010 11:47 PM
I've never seen anything like it.
The weirdest thing to me was those straight up and down beams of light coming from the sun...
August 19, 2010 12:39 AM
At 4:28 you can see not only the streak of smoke/vapor from the other booster, but the launch plume rising from the cape [hundreds?] of miles away.
August 19, 2010 2:45 AM
Its a horror movie now: http://vimeo.com/14259225
August 19, 2010 7:56 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cd36WJ79z4
August 19, 2010 12:57 PM
Saturday Morning Science Full Length
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXYlrw2JQwo
August 20, 2010 3:11 PM
Good, but, that Discovery, not Atlantis, Atlantis flight in the STS-125.
August 20, 2010 3:36 PM
Fixed now, good catch.
August 20, 2010 3:37 PM
Hi, all -
thanks for the great videos you've sent! Would love to see more.
August 20, 2010 5:08 PM
I have a question, how the microphone on the camera can record sound in space? I thought that sound can not propagates along vacuum!
Or the part of the explanation referring to "contact microphone" is the key????
August 24, 2010 10:18 AM
Really beautiful video. Enjoyed it very much.