The Launch of STS-93 - Columbia

On Thursday evening, July 22, 1999, my wife, her sister and husband left Sarasota, Florida for the 167 mile trek across the state to Titusville to view the twice-postponed launch of the shuttle Columbia. We had gone the previous night and were short on sleep but determined to see this night-time launch. We parked at Don's Restaurant and Tiki Bar at 10:30 PM and set up our chairs and gear. We were 12 miles from the launch pad, looking straight across the water. The weather was great for August in Florida.

I had a Celestron 5 telescope attached to my Minolta camera body. I used 800 ISO film but was unsure of the best exposures to use. Most of my shots came out under exposed. But here are a few that are OK.

Here is the shuttle on the launch pad. You can see the orange top of the external fuel tank and the water tower to the left. Remember this is 12 miles away.

This is just seconds after ignition. The shuttle has not yet cleared the tower and smoke is spreading quickly. We viewed this scene in silence since the sound of the engines took a minute to reach us.

This wide-angle view shows just how much of the sky was lit up. And the reflection in the water only served to enhance it.

Through the telescope the exhaust plume was dramatic. This was the view when we finally heard the initial roar of liftoff.

This was well worth the time and effort it took to see it! I would do it again in a minute.

This is me and the setup I used to take all the photos except the wide angle. The Celestron 5 is the property of Pine View School, Osprey, Florida