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Subscribe to RSSA passenger on a flight from New York to Florida caught a glimpse of U.S. space history Monday.
Stefanie Gordon of Hoboken, N.J., captured three images and a 12-second video of the final launch of the Endeavour shuttle with her phone -- about 30 minutes before her flight arrived in Palm Beach, Fla.
Stefanie Gordon
Stefanie Gordon captured this remarkable picture on a flight from New York to Palm Beach, Fla., after the final liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour near Cape Canaveral on Monday, May 16.
“It’s awe inspiring. I would never expect to be that close,” Gordon said. “I didn’t grasp the magnitude until after the fact.”
She also didn’t anticipate the response she got. “I’ve been retweeted by NASA, The Weather Channel. … I can’t even keep up with my friends! It’s really overwhelming. I just got off the plane and tweeted what I saw.”
Gordon was grateful for the in-flight announcement from the pilot.
“I was asleep and happened to wake up," she said. Her first thought: “Great – the one time I don’t have my camera with me.”
She shot the photos and the video on an iPhone 3GS.
A self-described lover of photography, Gordon usually keeps a trusty Canon PowerShot camera on hand, mostly for shooting pictures at Yankees’ games, where she’s a season ticket holder.
You can see more of Stefanie Gordon's tweets here @Stefmara.
Update on 5/16/11 at 8:14pm EST:
A quick thank you to Newsvine user bpevansncsu who mentioned some cool images he shot while heading to St. Lucia. He caught the STS-115 launch of Atlantis in Sept 2006. You can see the images here.
Using her cell phone, airplane passenger Stefanie Gordon snapped a photo of space shuttle Endeavour's final launch into space, providing a rare glimpse of a shuttle liftoff from above the clouds. She discusses the photo with msnbc's Thomas Roberts.
Related content:
Slideshow: Shuttle Endeavour- this is your life
Space shuttle Endeavour lifts off for the last time
Time lapse: Shuttle Atlantis last trek to liftoff
Leave a Comment:
Amazing!! That has got to be the best place to view the shuttle launch, from an airplane.
..hmmm... I would argue for the Command Pilots seat being the best place to watch.
Pat... not following you at all.
Tiz, I dont think even Pat is following Pat (weed - gimme some).
He means, Boom Boom, out go the lights.
Good grief folks. That's not a rocket engine from the space shuttle; that's the contrails from an airplane taking off from Orlando Int'l Airport. It is an optical illusion; it just looks like a rocket going up. Just like that plane off the coast of California in November of last year, right.......???
Put the Crack Pipe down Bro!
@ Alan, lol good one.
Great pic. Two questions about this photo.
1. Why was the plane this close to the launch? I understand it is likely miles away, but I thought NASA went to the extreme in regards of airspace, i.e. 100 mile zone or something.
2. Why was a similar photo never taken before? Think of all the shuttle launches off of Florida, surely there's a number of planes in the regional airspace?
I've played the game Pat is talking about. You play a Russian soldier, which explains the weapons- though I have no idea why he was so inspired. Shuttle launches are awesome enough on their own to watch. My mother lived in Cape Canaveral, so my family had its share of opportunities to watch them go up. It's a little sad for us...
I was so fortunate to attend the launch, watching from about 12 miles away at Banana River off of the Cape Canaveral causeway. We could hear two jets overhead, but could not see them, and questioned the close proximity ourselves. The Endeavor disappeared from view quickly as it pierced the nearly just-formed clouds, which makes her pictures a perfect complement to the view we had.
Nice Job!
It's dizzying, and I'm not seeing it first hand, as these lucky folks did...
That would be spectacular to witness from that vantage point!
Imagine the shot she could have gotten with a real camera...nice job Stephanie! I expect to be seeing this photo a lot in the future, sort of an instant classic I would bet. I've never seen anything like it. The best shots I've ever seen of the shuttle are the night launches from the ground...and while this isn't exactly a close-up or anything, it's pretty rare to see the shuttle ascent from such a terrific vantage point. Incredible.
The way the plume just pops through the clouds and then leaves a major shadow ON them...priceless. Great photo.
It is! I'm a flight attendant and that is the second shuttle launch I've been lucky enough to see. Both times it was the right place at the right time. I was on my way to Orlando around 15,000 feet and within 30 miles. We were still watching the burn off after it broke through the first layer of cloud cover. One of our passengers had an extended lens camera and got pictures! I can't wait to see them. I got my own, but her lens is better :)
COOL!! Thank you for that!
And I thought it was illegal to turn on your cell phone when the plane is in flight. Hmmmm. What if her actions adversely affected the control of the aircraft.....isn't that what we are told every time we fly and have to switch off our cell phones?
Dude... don't be an ass, just enjoy the photo and video.
Ever heard of airplane mode?
@ bob J: The key thing that has to be off is the communication part of your cell phone. Most modern phones have an "airplane mode" where they can do things like take pictures, play games and music, etc, without being active to send and receive call signals. So, on take off and landing, your phone (like all your other electronics) should be off but you can safely use your phone in airplane mode while the plane is in flight.
No, it's against safety regulations to have it on while you're taking off or during landing. Perfectly fine during flight.
It's against regulations, yeah, but it's bogus. Cell phones don't do squat to interfere with aircraft communications. They're actually considering repealing the ban.
Bob, That's only on take off and landing, they tell you you can resume using your electronic devices once the plane is in the air.
No, it is not illegal to turn on your smartphone during a flight, almost everyone does it. That why phones have flight mode.
You can use your IPhone in the flight mode and it's perfectly safe. So chill out!
The Iphone has a setting called "Airplane Mode." It turns off your cell service, but the phone is still available for games and music etc. You cannot receive phone calls or text messages in this setting.
NO, even though it is till against the law to transmit/recieve cell signals whilst in flight, it really has no effect. plus most phones should have an airplane mode by now. I know my feature phone does and its a few years old. it allows you to use various features in your phone like media and what not while any type of wireless com is disabled
You mean it doesn't transform when in "airplane" mode? I was hoping it was a new app!
Many phones have what's called an "airplane" mode, where the phone functions do not work, but where functions like camera and video do.
sweet.
That is freaking cool! Thanks for sharing :)
Simply beautiful. Thank you for sharing.
I managed to snap some similar photos whilst heading to St. Lucia and catching the STS-115 launch of Atlantis in Sept 2006.
flickr.com/photos/90998735@N00/sets/72157623242220036/
Those are awesome too. It's the end of an era (Space Shuttle). The more we have to remember it by, the better.
It's called 'Airplane Mode' for a reason.
Cool, way jealous :) I saw the John Glenn launch back in 98' (I think that was the year) from quite far up the coast and it was incredible even from that distance. Godspeed to our astronauts...space really truly is the final frontier and I for one cannot wait to find out what else is out there.
I saw the first John Glenn launch... 1962, and just about everything after that... the Apollo missions were the best!
Awesome pic! Distance is deceiving from this vantage point...obviously plenty of clearance...no problem. But I am curious if NASA and mission control does have some kind of no-fly zone during take-offs. Just wondering...is it 5 miles, or do they inform ATC that a lift-off is taking place and to alter flight paths?
Yes the airspace is pre-cleared and ATC and enroute control are aware, and all airline flight dispatches / flight plans for flights along that path and time are advised of any pending launches or traffic to be advised of.
Remember at sea level the line of sight is 20 miles to the horizon, at altitude the view from the aircraft can be 40 to 90 miles... so there was plenty of horizontal separation between the two craft. During non launch times the flight path route can be almost over the Cape where you clearly see the launch assembly building clearly.
I was thinking about that too. I bet they have a permanent no-fly zone around the space center
This sets a new definition for being in the right place at the right time... !!
Excellent photo!!!
What a waste. LOL
Nice picture of the shuttle though.
Sweet... that had to be exciting...hopefullly more photos like this will surface.
Looks like an ICBM launched during the cold war though!!! Nice piece of history. What is with the twisted trajectory of the afterburn a few miles out of the cloud, then straight there-after? Isnt it supposed to leave a linear trail of smoke and particles? Reason I am asking is because if you look at the smoke trajectories of both Challenger and Columbia, both were all twisted meaning a rough ride before disintergration during re-entering (in case of Columbia) and during launch for challenger. I know, it's not the wind, there is no wind up there (I hope). My thought would be a rough zig zag ride and then adjustment.....any ideas on this? I hated physics....lol
Yes, it is wind. There is still plenty of wind at that level, in fact, sometimes more wind than lower altitudes. This is the area of the 'Jet Stream'.
The article said '30 mins' before arrival so the plane would be around 25K feet. Judging from the angle of the plume, that is about in the middle where one of the bigger zig zags occurs. Further up it does appear to smooth out. Assuming FL25 for the plane, that area would be about 60K feet.
DocHolliday, the shuttle turns once and changes throttle a few times. These changes combined with different wind speeds at different altitudes will result in a NON LINEAR smoke trail.
ever heard of tubulance? thats wind. so yes, there would be wind there.
So....where to now. The Shuttle's are being retired and America has nothing to replace it. China puts tremendous emphasis on educating engineers and scientists and will probably make space their next challenge. In the meantime, we can't decide on whether education or a balanced budget should take precidence. In our efforts to leave a financially solvent future to our children, will we strip out the core that put us at the head of the table.
At this point I don't care who has the better space agency, just as long as experimentation's continue. All countries should be joining forces so we can get off this rock. If a asteroid hits Earth, it's not just America that suffers, it's the entire world.
a-men mankind has done nothing to preserve this planet for future generations its almost like nobody cares about this planet because its not going to be here anyway so i think somebody needs to think of a way to get everybody that needs saved to a safe location
Space X should have their Dragon capsule delivering cargo to the ISS by the end of this year, might be able to have it crew rated sometime next year. Hopefully that will translate to a minimal number of flights purchased from the Russians.
Actually...no, it's not illegal. As long as your phone is in "airplane mode" (i.e. network off), you can have it on during the flight - just not for take-off and landing. Hence, the "you may now use approved electronic devices" announcement.
Great shot, but the poor girl will probably be tweeted, IM'd, emailed, whatever else... to death. Maybe to the point where she wishes she never said anything about it.
I hope not. Thank you for sharing, Stephanie....
Really-----Buddy, you are a total buzz kill
I wish they would wash airplane windows once in a while. They usually have smears and grime whenever I want to take a photo.
I'd hate to be the guy who had that job! Can you imagine having to go down the side of a 747 or A380 between flights, knowing the bugs were going to do a job on it at take-off?
As long as she had the camera phone in airplane mode (ie: turns off phone but leaves camera and wireless internet on so you can surf the web on aircraft equipment for internet)... There is not problem turning your electronics and camera phone on after take off, as long as the cell phone part is off or in airplane mode.
If you fly very much and listen to the safety and rules briefing you will notice they cover all of this before every flight. It is also in the airline magazine in the seat back.
Please. Do you really think that if having your cell phone on could truly interfere with takeoff and landing the airplane that they'd just leave the general public on the honor system about it?
That is an awesome photo.... Who knows maybe worth some $$ in the very near future... I wish our country was not leaving the space race.....:(