Booster camera video of Atlantis launch.

Post #344,811 by Another Scott 7/15/11 7:53:28 AM Reply	Booster camera video of Atlantis launch. http://ok-cleek.com/...2%80%AC%E2%80%8F/ (32:39). The separation at around 7 minutes is neat. Cheers, Scott.
Post #344,823 by drook 7/15/11 1:18:42 PM Reply	Is there any guidance control on the boosters? Or do they just rely on dropping them over the Pacific to make sure they don't land on anything? -- Drew
Post #344,824 by Another Scott 7/15/11 1:32:20 PM Reply	Don't think so. They fall into the Atlantic in a known area, and I believe they warn ships and planes to stay away, but I can't quickly find a linky on that. They're quite sophisticated - http://en.wikipedia....ooster#Separation - but it doesn't appear they have guidance systems. HTH. Cheers, Scott.
Post #344,825 by drook 7/15/11 2:13:51 PM Reply	Kind of remarkable They're still firing for several seconds at least after separation. At that speed and altitude, I would expect that to make for a very large potential landing range. -- Drew
Post #344,826 by folkert 7/15/11 3:20:26 PM Reply	Since they did it a few times... I'm pretty sure that they are pretty good at estimating where they are going to fall. Usually they are cabling them up to tow back within 30 minutes of the splashdown. I watch an show that explained the whole recovery and re-fit process for them. Its truly amazing. That blast you saw right before they hit the water was the explosively rammed plug for the rocket exhaust port, so they float. Did you also see how they pirouetted in sync once they detached? They've got that thing down pretty well.
Post #344,827 by drook 7/15/11 4:09:56 PM Reply	Yeah, the pirouette was cool Gotta say though, that video makes it really easy to understand the deniers who claim it's all faked. It's just too perfect. -- Drew
Post #344,836 by static 7/15/11 9:09:24 PM Reply	Deniers forget two things. 1. Rocket engineers have had decades to experiment with their technology. They used to fire rockets at the moon to see if they could hit it. 2. The motion of celestial objects is included in the calculations! (The rocket doesn't go up straight? Actually it does: the earth is turning under it.) Sometimes truth really is stranger than fiction. Wade. Static Scribblings http://staticsan.blogspot.com/
Post #345,176 by mhuber 7/25/11 7:25:30 PM Reply	27:30 also... And then the whole rest of the film. --------------------------------------- Badass! (and delicious)

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