Starship Asterisk*

Discovery Rollout Shadow

Explanation: Who goes there? Although the spotlighted figure in white might not be identifiable by itself, surely the huge shadow behind it makes its identity clear: the space shuttle. Specifically, it was the space shuttle Discovery being rolled out last March in preparation for launch. As captured above, an unusual monstrous shadow on passing fog was created during a picturesque night unveiling. While on the shuttle Crawler-Transporter, one of the largest tracked vehicles on Earth, the shuttle moved at about 2 km per hour from the main assembly building to the launch pad at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. About a month later, in its penultimate planned mission, Discovery roared off the launch pad and delivered needed supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. Yesterday, Discovery reached Launch Pad 39A in preparation for its last planned mission.

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deleted because i had jumped the gun... sorry

The magic of the image reflects was the chance to be obtained from the interior of a car whose windshield was projected to be lit lit in from behind. I believe that

a shadow in the clouds; how neat. Another neat picture in the write up.

i look at that photo and my visceral first reaction as an astronomer? LIGHT POLLUTION! it's everywhere.

My first reaction? How depressing! The end of the shuttle program feels like a step back.

Truly an interesting image - shadow of shuttles past. What is to become of our nation's scientific progress - I hope that we can take the next step up.

starczar wrote:My first reaction? How depressing! The end of the shuttle program feels like a step back.

That was my first reaction too. But then I realized there are a few shuttle missions left… still it's near the end of an era.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shutt ... downs.html

Maybe this isn’t jumping the gun by too far… perhaps a new twist from an old poem by Lewis Carroll…

"O Oysters," said the Carpenter,
"You've had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?'
But answer came there none--
And this was scarcely odd, because
They'd eaten every one.

"I weep for you," the Walrus said:
"I deeply sympathize."
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead--
There were no birds to fly.

APOD Robot wrote: Discovery Rollout Shadow

http://moonchalice.com/WordPress/?p=18 wrote:

Sheep in Fog by Sylvia Plath
(From The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath. HarperPerennial Edition. Page 262.)

“The hills step off into whiteness.
People or stars
Regard me sadly, I disappoint them.

The train leaves a line of breath.
O slow
Horse the colour of rust,

Hooves, dolorous bells – All morning the
Morning has been blackening,

A flower left out.
My bones hold a stillness, the far
Fields melt my heart.

They threaten
To let me through to a heaven
Starless and fatherless, a dark water.

DULL
BTW-The shuttle is a huge waste as is the International weightlessness station.

MARS is where its at. Why we have not sent seeds, water,etc to Mars is beyond me-MARS is the only possible planet we could ever hope to colonize, we can look all we want but there is noting other in reach in this nor the next 10 lifetimes

Mr America wrote:
MARS is where its at. Why we have not sent seeds, water,etc to Mars is beyond me-MARS is the only possible planet we could ever hope to colonize, we can look all we want but there is noting other in reach in this nor the next 10 lifetimes

Don't forget the potash.

The sky display is really something. I looks like a giant waving fan.

I find this picture a bit hard to believe. Look at the shadow of the shuttle on the clouds. It is so straight and undistorted it appears that the shadow is being projected on a very flat, uniform screen. How could the clouds behind the shuttle be that uniform?