For Atlantis' launch, NASA installed a live television camera on the side of the shuttle's big fuel tank. The camera was pointed down, shooting at a wide angle straight under Atlantis' belly. The real time video was spectacular; the stills aren't bad, either:

Ignition!!

On our way, Houston!

Clear of the tower.

Roll program complete, pitching over. Shadow over the Atlantic behind.

Miles away and still climbing.

Docking just ahead. (Old station picture)

Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center share an important place in American history. Their landmarks are the launch pads where we first leaped into space and on to the moon, and certainly the mammoth Vertical Assembly Building, where first the Saturn moon rockets and later the shuttles were stacked for flight.

I've always thought of the huge building's interior as something like a cathedral--that window there stretches almost to the roof, more than 500 feet above. It is a solemn and impressive place where mighty deeds begin....

Ed. note: Atlantis landed back at the Kennedy Space Center a few days later, having delivered a huge aluminum girder that was installed on the International Space Station by two of the orbiter's crewmen. The moment his baby touched the ground, Kelvin Manning's work started all over again. He didn't seem to think it was any kind of burden at all.

Return to Home Page.