Thanks Doug, that is correct, it is the core of the 'zero' stage that is liquid, the five strap-ons are solid.

Minor aside here: As NASA scrambled for a replacement for the shuttle, they ask both Boeing and Lockheed to prepare a list of viable options. Boeing retorted that only their stack would work, Lockheed said only theirs would, so NASA decided to do their own study and concluded that since both stacks involved a cadra of solids, providing most of the thrust, why not just elliminate the liquid core and go with a solid first stage?

I join to the congrats chorus..!
I always asked myself how similar pictures were taken... there are many other examples, taken from even closer distances (eg the popular shuttle view from below, shortly after launch)... I understand they are remotely taken, but how cameras are protected from extremely high temperature/pressure from engines?
Thanks.

IIRC, some of them (e.g. AT the shuttle launch pad) are encased on boxes which automatically close a protecting cover seconds after T0 in a process similar to the shuttle T0 umbilicals.

On the other side, I remember a sequence on the ISS IMAX movie in which a camera lens (or its protecting cover) was literally broken during the Proton launch due to debris.

Yes, that's correct. Many of us use boxes but not all. But for the cameras mounted on the Shuttle launch tower that get those shots, they are definitely housed inside heat and flame proof boxes that flip open for the shot and close afterwards.

Thanks Tesheiner/BPCooper, I suspected this answer but is great to know from experts!
Where is possible to see broken IMAX camera movie?

Hi all, I have just updated my New Horizons page. It is a page similar to "Where is New Horizons now?" has been available at:

http://www.yaohua2000.org/cgi-bin/New%20Horizons.pl

The IMAX film Space Station 3D (2D on DVD format though).

What happened to that website - spacearium ?

Changed to a real url:

http://www.spacearium.com/

Matt does good video work.

That was a good article. When you do photography other than studio work, you realize that loss of cameras is a part of the business. I do aerial photography from radio-control airplanes and lose a couple of cameras a year...

--Bill

Did You all notice that the New Horizons spacecraft is planned to conduct its Pluto flyby on 14th July 2015 ?
That's exactly half a century after the Mariner 4 flyby of Mars !!!

Yes, Bruce Moomaw noted it a few months back in one of the NH threads. Alan Stern picked up on it, and has mentioned that fact in the NH oost-launch news conference.

Ah, so Stern stole ANOTHER one of my ideas, did he?

Please don't say that Mariner 4 was/will be half a century ago.

Where's that old man icon I asked for?

Ben,

Although its a bit late, my congratulations too. Thats a great shot.

In fact I so truly enjoy the whole series, that for my outreach presentations I have assembled them into a series of collages over several slides to convey the beauty and power of that awesome Atlas launch;

a simulated animation

from liftoff to Infinity and Beyond !!!


and the people loved your shots

ken

Or, as the BabelFish translation of one French aerospace website put it: "Toward the infinite realms and beyond that!"

Ha, thanks. Sounds neat, can I see what you did?

Its quite catchy, actually, in a Buzz Lightyear sort of way.

Didn't Captain James <where no man has gone before> Kirk say:
"Somewhere, out there, THATAWAY!"?

Engage!

Make it so!

Space is deep.
____________Space is dark.
________________________It's hard to find.
____________________________________A place to park.

--Burmashave.