I just watched the Discovery launch. It’s easy to be over-familiar with images of a Shuttle launch, there have been so many; but this one was different. This launch was important because it’s the first since Columbia broke up on re-entry, which affects not only NASA, but the entire scientific research community.

This launch took place in daylight in order to maximise the possibility of filming any hiccups during launch that could affect the re-entry, with more enginering cameras deployed than on any previous shuttle mission.

The extra cameras provided a fascinating new viewpoint on the launch for the casual observer, and the most intreguing of these was certainly the rear facing camera mounted at the top of the fuel stack.

The camera operated flawlessly throughout the launch, and kept transmitting right through the fuel-tank separation, showing discovery appear to gently soar away towards Earth orbit. A magical moment to behold.

Film from the stack camera will now be analysed frame by frame to check for cracks on the underside of Discovery prior to it’s re-entry. Initial comments from NASA suggest that debris that could be seen during SRB the separation is not a cause for concern.

Looking back at the fuel tank and the underside of discovery.

The moment of separation.