The Яight Stuff

With the space shuttle getting near to retirement the International Space Station will have to rely on the Russians for new crew members and provisions. A Soyuz spacecraft will be launched towards the ISS. One of the passengers will be Guy Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil. The rocket was brought to the launchpad yesterday. Contrary to NASA the Russians don't use a specially designed crawler for this, but good old steam power.

Shuttle Pre-Flight Activities, Rarely Seen by the General Public

Shuttle "Discovery":
Pre-Flight Activities, Rarely Seen by the General Public

However, these pictures deserve a wide viewing audience: the amount of thought and engineering that goes into every launch is immense; each successful take-off represents the Mankind's finest effort, and is a wonder to behold.

External tank arrives by barge from Louisiana:




External tank approaches Vertical Assembly Building (VAB):


Removing external tank:






Preparing to lift the tank to vertical:




Lifting the tank:


Solid rockets are attached:


Orbiter: External tank with Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB):


Engines are attached to the shuttle in the Orbiter Processing Facility:








Shuttle in sling ready for lift in VAB:


Shuttle has been moved to VAB and will be attached to external tank:




Shuttle is attached:








Payload Preparation in Space Station Processing Facility:




Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM):


Payload carrier leaves Canister Rotation Facility:




Payload being moved to Launch Pad:




Lifting payload into position for insertion into "Discovery"
when it arrives at the pad:






Shuttle "Discovery" leaves VAB:






Trip to launch:
Length - 3 1/2 mi
Time - 6-8 hours
Arrow indicates the Launch Pad.



Crawler Control:


"Discovery" arrives at Pad:





(image credit: NASA / Ken Thornsley)



Ready for Launch:

(image credit: NASA / Scott Andrews)

We Have Lift Off !



(image credit: NASA - click to enlarge)


Images courtesy Christie L. Dyett and Amanda Diller - NASA Space Coast Launch Services