STS-93 Columbia launch

This page shows pictures that I took from the launch of STS-93 with the orbiter Columbia. During this mission, the Chandra X-ray observatory was deployed. Launch was at 12:31am EDT on Friday, 23 July 1999. Landing at KSC occurred about 11PM EDT on Tuesday 27 July 1999.

One notable thing about this launch was that several of the cooling pipes that compose the nozzles on the SSMEs leaked on the number 3 engine, spilling hydrogen into the exhaust. This resulted in the rocket running out of fuel a few seconds early, and leaving the orbiter 7 miles short of its intended altitude. This did not adversely affect the mission, however.

I had the unique opportunity to view this launch from the observation deck on the top of one of the buildings on the Cape Canaveral Air Station. Although not as good a viewing site as the turning basin where I was in December, this is a much better site than any other to which I had been. You are a little close than the causeway, it's much more private, and being elevated, you have an unobstructed view of the shuttle on the pad.

When Hillary Clinton arrived for the launches, her entourage drove immediately beneath us on the road in front of the building.

This time exposure picture was taken with the Mamiya C330 and 55mm lens on Kodak Portra 160VC film. Having flared a picture into oblivion before at f/4, I took this one at f/16. The trail is so bright, that a further reduction in aperture could be acceptable.

I think this old lens is just a bad design for flare. It may lack the modern antireflective coatings.

Look closely at the buildings on the horizon near the launch pad. See how they are blurred. This was due to when the sound of the launch hit us, shaking the whole deck. My nice sturdy Bogen tripod did me little good standing on "ground" that was shaking.

This series of pictures was taken with my Minolta 35mm on Kodak Royal 200 ISO film and a 60-300mm lens with a 2x teleconverter (so I was at 600mm). Its maximum aperture in this configuration is f/8. I pushed my luck with the shutter speed, shooting these at 1/125 sec., well below the speed recommended by the guideline that the shutter speed in seconds should be no less than the inverse of the focal length in mm. That is, I should have shot it at 1/500s, or even 1/1000s, but even at 1/125, I could have used a couple stops more exposure. I braced myself pretty well, so the blur wasn't so bad, butI think I'll pretty much give up on trying this kind of pictures unless I'm at the turning basin again. I've doubled the pictures in size here - they are quite small. As for exposure, I could try faster film, but I don't like the graininess I get above 200 ISO. Lift-off!
Clearning the tower.
Climb-out.
Solid rocket motor burnout and separation.
SRB's fall away. (Look closely - they are the two orange dots.)

Pinhole image of the launch.