BLOGGER NOTE, 11:12 P.M.: United Launch Alliance declares victory, mission success! Spacecraft separation has just been confirmed by officials in the Delta Operations Center at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.A Delta IV rocket with a new national weather satellite blasted off tonight as our award-winning Florida Today photographer Craig Bailey documented the event from the NASA Causeway between the Kennedy Space Center Industrial Area and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Delta IV manufacturer United Launch Alliance escorted reporters and photographers to the Banana River crossing about an hour before a planned 6:14 a.m. liftoff.
A storm cell swept within 10 miles of Launch Com0plex 37 as countdown clocks ticked toward zero, and the targeted liftoff time was reset three times before the Delta IV and its payload -- a Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite -- finally got off the ground.
You can click to enlarge and save this series of five launch shots. You can also click the enlarged versions to get an even bigger, more detailed view. They all show the rocket leaping off its launch pad in a blaze of smoke, steam and fire.The 205-foot-tall rocket had been slated to launch Friday but seasonal thunderstorms pushed electrically charged clouds into the Cape Canaveral area and forced a scrub.
The same situation was setting up today and storms pounded the area during fuel-loading operations, but the weather finally cleared enough to give the Delta IV and its payload a ride toward orbit.
The two tall towers seen in the photo on the left -- and catenary wires running down to the ground -- kept the rocket and its satellite cargo protected during the afternoon thunderstorms, which generated lightning strikes within two miles of the launch pad.
Enjoy the rest of the photos:
And here's one more from United Launch Alliance. Photo credit: Carleton Bailie/United Launch Alliance:
5 comments:
This was my 658 th. launch since arriving at Cape Canaveral in 1958.
It is in my blood.
I LOVED my many positions at these bases.
Go Delta lV.
Clark McClelland
Great work, Todd...particularly like the blackened effect from the huge ignition plume. Hope AW&ST posts your work.
Anonymous:
Kudos go to Craig Bailey, one of our outstanding Florida Today photographers. He shot all the photos; I simply post them for all to enjoy. Myself, I get a real kick on of clicking on them to enlarge them, and then clicking the enlarged image for an even bigger view. The detail then is even better!
Congrats to the entire Delta IV team on a great Launch.
Does Craig need a helper? I am a available. And I am a good photographer.
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