Starship Asterisk*

Endeavour Looking Up

Explanation: First flown in 1992, Endeavour, the youngest space shuttle orbiter, is being prepared for its 25th and final trip to low Earth orbit. Seen here from an exciting perspective 400 feet above the floor of Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building, Endeavour (OV-105) is mated to an external tank and solid rocket boosters just prior to roll out to launch pad 39A on March 11. The completed space shuttle stands over 18 stories tall. Intended for an April 19 near sunset launch on STS-134, Endeavour will head for the International Space Station and deliver the AMS cosmic ray experiment. The final flight of Endeavour will be the penultimate planned space shuttle flight.

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Anybody can explain what are the two big, gray, top-rounded boxes at both sides of the orbiter, just besides the OMS pods? Thanks

RafaSp wrote:Anybody can explain what are the two big, gray, top-rounded boxes at both sides of the orbiter, just besides the OMS pods? Thanks

Don't know or see what you mean.

Is this photo taken from a heliocopter from up high with a telephoto lense?

biddie67 wrote:Is this photo taken from a heliocopter from up high with a telephoto lense?

No, it's taken from high up inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC, looking down on the shuttle, using a wide angle lens.

Thanks Chris ... I hadn't realized just how big that building is.

Actually somewhat of a telephoto lens. The VAB, 525 feet high and about the same wide, is the fourth largest building on Earth by volume.

BPCooper wrote:Actually somewhat of a telephoto lens. The VAB, 525 feet high and about the same wide, is the fourth largest building on Earth by volume.

The EXIF header says it was made at a focal length of 13.8 mm, which definitely qualifies as wide angle when used with a Nikon D200.

Chris, the EXIF says 65mm. I took it with my 24-70 2.8.

BPCooper wrote:Chris, the EXIF says 65mm. I took it with my 24-70 2.8.

Thanks. Goes to show you have to be careful with EXIF headers. When I view the header in Photoshop, I see what you report. But in ACDSee and a standalone EXIF viewer, I see 13.8008 for the focal length, and no description for the lens itself. Most EXIF problems I've seen have been in the interpretation of units; perhaps that's what is happening in this case.

Oh, ok, strange.

RafaSp wrote:Anybody can explain what are the two big, gray, top-rounded boxes at both sides of the orbiter, just besides the OMS pods? Thanks

If you are referring to the two round-topped structures on either side of the shuttle's tail and OMS pods, those are the Tail Service Masts (TSMs). They hold the umbilical connections for the orbiter on the launch pad which disconnect at liftoff.

Nice shot Ben, congratulations!

Hey BPCooper, if you've been a member of 'The Crew' since Aug. 4 2010, how come you haven't posted MORE pictures of NASA stuff??
((or did i just miss them?))

beyond,

Go to the Observation Deck forum and search for "Cooper." Ben has a lot of (stunning!) images there. There are also links to his website scattered about. Enjoy!

It's a great shot; I love seeing these. There was a time lapse video I found not long ago... Amazing stuff going on in there!

One small nit: Endeavor isn't really "Looking" anywhere, though WE are, so maybe the caption should be "Endeavor Looking Down".

That is, of course, assuming they're not building it hanging from the ceiling.

-Noel

Sometimes the shuttles are hanging from the ceiling:

Not really the ceiling,owlice, just a HIGH perch. You, of all people, should have reconized that

BPCooper wrote:

RafaSp wrote:Anybody can explain what are the two big, gray, top-rounded boxes at both sides of the orbiter, just besides the OMS pods? Thanks

If you are referring to the two round-topped structures on either side of the shuttle's tail and OMS pods, those are the Tail Service Masts (TSMs). They hold the umbilical connections for the orbiter on the launch pad which disconnect at liftoff.

Yes; that's what I meant. Thank you for the explanation and the beautiful shot within it. Also, I found some extra info here: http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/tec ... -prep.html

Does nasa " CHASE PLANE " the Shuttle with a fighteras it climbs out ? something like the F22 ?

No.

Beautiful, beautiful shot Ben! Kinda heart breaking too in a way. Congratulations on such a great shot and so many, many beautiful shots!
Bret