After being scrubbed on 9 August due to lightning in the area, STS-105 was launched on 10 August 2001 to carry the expedition three crew to the ISS. This was ISS flight 7A.1 and was also to return the expedition 2 crew and ferried the Leonardo TMNT logistics module to the stations full of supplies.
This mission was originally slated for late June, so the expedition two crew, including Auburn grad Jim Voss, had been in space for a few months longer than expected. A lot of the delay was due to teething problems with the space station manipulator arm.
Launch occurred at 5:10 PM. These photos were taken from the NASA causeway viewing site. I was loaned the car pass by my friend Kim who requested STS-105 passes in January not knowing that the launch would be pushed back into the school year. She is a teacher and was unable to come to 105, but did come for STS-104.
Discovery was on pad 39A, which, fortunately, is the closer pad to the causeway, perhaps five to six miles away. Unfortunately, it was a very hazy day, and got worse as the day progressed.
Photos were taken with Kodak Supra film (I swapped 100 and 400 so frequently the day before because of changing lighting that I forget which I finally used - I think the 400 since I was handheld.), Minolta Maxxum 9 body and Minolta 80-200mm/2.8 G lens initially at 200mm. Camera was handheld this time since the tripod was occupied with my large format Toyo 45A. (That gets some looks at the viewing site!)
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This is what it's like at the causeway viewing site. It's a picnic atmosphere. People fly kites, play ball and throw frisbees to pass the time. The gate open to guests four hours before the launch and close one hour before, although NASA requests visitors to arrive at least two hours before. |
My car, the black Malibu, can be seen here on the left. My tripod is sticking out of the head of the girl with the ball. The shuttle is barely visible at this focal length with the haze, but is between the two building above the Chevy SUV. |
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The shuttle sitting on the pad. Some of the Titan processing buildings are in the freground. It was a hazy day. I've tried adjusting the contrast on these images, but it is not consistent from image to image, and I didn't spend much time with it. |
Trying to get the foreground grass in the picture, but I don't have enough depth of field. I used lens tilt with the large format camera to get the similar picture all in focus. |
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Lift-off. |
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I'm only showing about every other picture that I took. |
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