launches to the ISS
March 15, 2009 7:43:44pm EDT
Click here to read about the STS-119 Mission!
Launch occurred at 7:43pm EDT about 10 minutes after sunset.
This photo and the 6 below were taken March 11 after they scrubbed the launch do to a hydrogen leak.
Discovery will have to wait another day!
After camera retrieval I caught the moonrise over the famous countdown clock!
The STS-119 crew head out to pad 39A about 4 hours before launch.
10 minutes before sunset the STA aircraft does one last approach and climb out from runway 15.
Last view from this camera before Discovery gets blocked out by the steam created from the main engines.
This photo and the ones below were shot from the VAB roof 525 ft high and about 3.5 miles from the launch pad.
Sunset was 10 minutes earlier and made this of the most beautiful launches of a Space Shuttle!
Only 15 people are allowed on the VAB for a launch!
If you look closely you can see the two SRB's falling away from the Shuttle at a range of about 40 miles!
What a beautiful sky above the empty 39A pad!