Here is the result:

As far as I’m concerned, it’s completely worth the effort.

Of course, since the above image was made with a camera sitting on a tripod, I was also able to do some shooting with a telephoto lens for a more traditional liftoff image.

Finally, I had planned to attach my point and shoot camera to the tripod and shoot some video as well, but the crappy flexpod I bought that day fell apart on me. So, I ended up setting the little camera directly on the ground and crossing my fingers. I couldn’t get a clear view of the sky, but figured it was worth a shot anyway. The resulting video falls squarely in the “Happy Accident” category.

(Note: At about 1:50 seconds into the video, the rumble that starts is the sound from engines. It took that long for it to get to where I was shooting from. Prior to that, the all the rocket noise is coming from the audio on the radio. The announcer was obviously much closer.)

To give credit where it’s due:

• Thanks to Dr. T.S. Kelso from celestrak.com for helping make sure I was setup to capture the entire flight path.
• For a great set of notes on shooting launches, visit this page on phototrek.org.
• K4GCC (146.940) retransmission of the NASA audio which you hear in the video.
• M.C. for letting me borrow some additional gear.

Nice idea, but as soon as I tried to warp the thing around the tripod leg, one of its legs busted off.

I tried using gaffers tape to reattach, but wasn’t comfortable it would be stable enough to hold the camera still for the several minutes that would be necessary. I ended up using another shorter one that has a similar type of legs, but is only designed to sit on something instead of attach to it. With no platform available to rest it on, the ground was the best I could do. The video turned out better than I expected in that “happy accident” way, but I would have much rather had it taken from above the weeds instead of in them.

When I returned the broken FlexPod, the guy at the camera store asked me if I wanted to swap it out for another one. I suppose it’s possible that I got the one defective one they had, but as far as I’m concerned it’s just a crappy product. Needless to say, I got a refund instead.

Time to get a Magic Arm

The other locations are the positions I’m looking to shoot from and Launch Pad 39a where the shuttle will blast off from. By sticking a protractor on the screen, I get the angles of view which I cross reference with either this chart or this tool.

Hopefully, we’ll see how this all pans out tomorrow night.

This Way To The Egress II from Stimulating Pixels on Vimeo.

Pay attention to the movement in the back by the glowing sphere to help get an idea of how many people are moving. I think the overall ticket sales were ~80,000. I’m sure they weren’t all there, but a lot of them were.

Note: if you do not like crowds, these type of music festivals are probably not for you. At least not the headliners for each night. During the early parts of the day, it’s not bad at all. For the last shows of each day, everyone gathers around one of two stages and then all leave at the same time when the set is over. I find the resulting mass of people in various stats of inebriation fun to watch.

This was shot on my recently acquired F200 point and shoot. Once again, I’m blown away with the quality little consumer cameras can capture these days.

To me, the the way he talks about stealing is more about learning from someone/something and then using what you learn to create something new for the world. What a great take on things.

Just a few quick links that I’ve found useful when trying to figure out details about attending a Space Shuttle launch. (Of course, if you can’t attend, there is always NASA TV streaming on the web.

• NASA Launch Blog – Note: it would be nice if this page auto-updated, but it doesn’t appear to.
• STS-128 Launch blog RSS feed – It looks like this will disappear after the current launch, but new ones should pop up for each launch. They also keep clearing it out which sucks.
• Kennedy Space Center launch viewing ticket info
• NASA list of "off-site" viewing locations
• Article from phototrek.org about launch photography – lots of really good stuff in here.
• Launch info dump from sworld.com.au – Tons of stuff here. To the point of information overload, but it’s worth digging through for specifics.
• Wiki article on STS-128 – There’s one for every mission.
• Awesome looking graphical representation of the launch before it happens – Shows maps of where/when you can see the shuttle from different states. I’m glad there are people out there that can and do make this kind of thing.
• Communication frequency list
• Another frequency list with some additional stuff on it – This one lines up more with what I’ve seen in some other places.
• List of retransmissions in other locations – if you want to tune in from elsewhere.
• My question to Ask MetaFilter about scanners – got confirmation that the ones RadioShack sells are speced to pick up the retransmissions.

These are the frequencies I’ve seen listed for tuning into the shuttle communications prior to launch via HAM repeaters. These are all pulled from the links above, but they are spread out. Just listing them here to make them easier to find.

• 146.880 MHz (FM) – KA9SZX retransmission
• 146.940 MHz (FM) – K4GCC retransmission
• 145.170 MHz (FM) – WA4VME retransmission
• 296.800 MHz (AM) – Air-to-ground & Orbiter to EVA-Suit
• 279.000 MHz (AM) – EVA-Suit-to-EVA-Suit & Orbiter to EVA-Suit
• 243.000 MHz (AM) – Standard UHF Mil emergency Freq.
• 442.6 MHz (UHF) – NASA audio
• AM 1240 and AM 1350 – Local station WMMB. These weren’t broadcasting the launch when I was there, but they are still listed by NASA.

There aren’t that many Shuttle missions left after this one. Here’s the list as it stands right now.

• STS-129 – November 12, 2009 – 4:11PM
• STS-130 – February 4, 2010 – Time TBD
• STS-131 – March 18, 2010 – Time TBD
• STS-132 – May 14, 2010 – Time TBD
• STS-133 – July 29, 2010 – Time TBD
• STS-134 – September 16, 2010 – Time TBD

The last one, STS-134 isn’t certain yet. It has to get budget approval. As it stands right now, either that one or 133, is going to be the last launch of the Space Shuttle program.

This thing would totally be able to pull off the Bishop knife trick from Aliens. Do not taunt Fast Moving Robot Hand

See the original article for more details.

If you are a fan of the SEC and own an iPhone or an iPod Touch, you’ll want the free “SEC Football Pocket Schedule” from SilverTree Technology. (They also have a Big 12 one if you’re into that.)

Interestingly, once I move off that page on their site, I can’t see any other links back to it. Whatever the case, the App itself works as a great add for the company. I never would have seen their site if I hadn’t started with the app. The app itself is pretty simple, but it’s really well designed, loads fast and is intuitive. So, not only is it a free ad for them, it lets potential clients know that they do good work.

Serious business, but the number strikes me as funny: 1-888-ATF-BOMB