This video of a Space Shuttle launch was recorded using cameras on the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB). It follows a booster through its sub-orbital arc, a short re-entry, and to splashdown – in 400 seconds. The sounds reverberating through the empty SRB, as it bites into thicker and thicker atmosphere at 4:25, are kinda creepy.
Use of cameras on the outside of rockets has become very common, if not ubiquitous, in recent years. I’m sure they are very useful to engineers – being the proverbial “fly on the wall.” When the SRBs detach at 2:34, and you see the Shuttle and the liquid propellent tank fly away, bathing the SRB in its exhaust – it just gives me the chills!
If you have a good sound system, crank this to “11,” and you might get a rough idea of how LOUD a Shuttle launch really was; I’m told it shook your whole body. I’d love to show this video at SF conventions… with a big screen and good sound system… in the lobby!
