Today's Video: STS-129 Ascent Highlights

This is a great video, it really conveys the sheer magnitude of a Space Shuttle Launch. This is the best launch video I have seen. Lots of great angles and views.

Thanks for posting this.

Complex, expensive, dangerous, amazing. Sure gonna miss them.

Am I the only one getting all misty about this?

Thanks for posting this Keith. VERY nicely put together. Soon video and memories will be all you will have. :'( Powerpoint, alas, will always be with us! However having seen the pictures of the hush hush X-37
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:X-37B_prelaunch.jpg
...perhaps all is not lost! Shame it gets covered in a fairing. I wonder if they will televise the landings?

Agree! After watching this flawless video of the most capable vehicle ever built and flown, tell us again how it makes any sense (or cents) to retire it in a year, lay off 2-3K US space workers, take half the "savings" and send that to Russia to pay their space workers for overpriced, underperforming Soyuz and Progress vehicles; then take the other half and spend it on trying to build another overpriced and underperforming (if,in five years+, it performs at all!) Ares-1 which won't do half the things Shuttle can do! Brilliant!!!! (And people say NASA has lost its "Can-Do" attitude--hah!--it still can do the dumbest things imaginable!)

Watching that video and the incredible pictures and video from the rendezvous pitch maneuver really drive home what we're going to losing when the shuttles are retired. We're going to want to do thing in a few years that are no longer possible without the shuttle and be wondering where the hell we went wrong. A look at the X-37B gives a hint of where we could have been if we'd focused on upgrading or building evolutionary successors to the orbiters rather than chasing one breakthrough technology after another. Are the airlines still flying the 707 (let's leave the KC-135 out of this because that's a whole other story)? I think not. Think of what we could be doing with a modern orbiter constructed of composites with advanced avionics, flight controls and thermal protection systems. Instead, we're going from the 707 back to the DC-3. Lovely.

Now, if only James Cameron would agree (and help fund?) to have this run on the big screen in-between the movie trailers and the "Avatar" feature. No labeling necessary, just show as is with the well-chosen music. In fact, why not create a similar-styled one of the rendezvous and docking / undocking sequences, and a third of the entry portion, then show the three different ones on different screenings? Some folks already pay to see big sci fi movies multiple times; this could be an additional incentive to ensure they caught each of the other "really cool NASA shorts".

Jon B, your vision would do SO much if only someone would act on it. Perhaps this might be the chance.

That has got to be the coolest video I've seen in many a moon...

Another thought... someone at NASA should send that over to the White House.

That made me feel like a kid again.....

Awesome, I am sending this to friends. I've never seen one edited together like this before and they did very well.

Is there any non-youtubed higher quality version out there? I had no luck googling or searching on nasa.gov for Systems Engineering and Integration.

A beautiful and breathtaking video. I challenge anyone to tell me that human space flight isn't one of the most amazing and inspiring things after watching that! Who needs Star Trek when you've got the real thing? ;-)

It just goes to remind us just what an astonishing and boundary-shifting machine the shuttle is. Somehow, even though my head knows that Orion will do just as impressive things, somehow it won't have the same visual impact as the launch of a shuttle or even of a Saturn-V.

Here's looking forward to an X-37-derived CEV flying atop a Jupiter-130 one day! Enterprise OV-201 anybody?

Re.: The music. Was I the only one that thought the music for the roll-out was going to be the theme tune of Firefly, "Can't Take The Sky Away From Me"?

I want to Ditto what kay1g said.
Awesome video!
NASA, you are going to miss this amazing machine.
What were you thinking?

Unfortunately the video has now been taken down. It was really special while it lasted.

I had to take down the Youtube video sorry because the SE&I folks didn't like the edits I made to get it in under the 10 minute youtube limit. I also uploaded to this site Exposure Room which allows you to download the HQ original file. We are trying to get the official nasa youtube channel to upload it (they can get around the 10 min limit) so keep an eye out for that version. Sorry to break your youtube link.

http://exposureroom.com/members/minterbartolo.aspx/assets/f18be10bed174e46bc71d3c04c9008d7/

Mike Interbartolo

Yes, let's take it off a site with the entirety of their bandwidth dedicated to videos and force people to watch this (absolutely incredible) video with a shitty custom flash player on an even worse site. Twelve minutes now and the video is almost ten percent loaded; Thanks NASA!

Would it really be that difficult to become a YouTube partner so you wouldn't be hindered by time constraints? Really NASA, incredible bureaucratic decision; I can't imagine why the government wont give you guys more money.

Editors note: It would seem that there will an attempt to post it on NASA's YouTube site. Kudos to Michael for trying to make this available to a wider audience - despite NASA.

Why not at least host it on a site without terrible bandwidth issues?

There's hundreds of video sites that could support this but you seem to have chosen one that can't.

All manned space craft are complex and dangerous. However, the space shuttle SRBs have not had a fatal malfunction in over 20 years and the SSMEs have never had any fatal malfunctions since the beginning of the space shuttle program.

The thermal tiles have been a problem, however, since the beginning of the shuttle program. Yet they were only involved in one fatal accident.

Just two fatal accidents in its entire 28 year history is remarkable, IMO, since practically all manned space vehicles are really experimental vehicles.

Marcel F. Williams

I didn't want to take it off Youtube since that is the best site but since I had uploaded an edited version they wanted the full video or no video up since a lot of people put a lot of effort into the video. I am just a regular youtube user so I am limited by the 10 min limit. I know they are working with the PAO folks to get it loaded on the ReelNASA or NASATV youtube channels which are't limited to 10 min. I looked at several other sites that didn't have the 10 min limit but also didn't down convert the quality. if folks know a better site that won't compromise the quality let me know because I have the 12:34 350MB file I can upload it somewhere else. I am hoping that tomorrow the full version is up on the nasa youtube channel, but until then exposure room seemed like a good site. sorry for letting you down.

mike interbartolo

Sad there will not be something so majestic as the shuttle or the Sarurn again within our lifetimes. One can only hope.

As Buzz Aldrin says in his latest blog on the Huffington Post: we're following this machine with a....space capsule????

"sorry for letting you down. mike interbartolo"
No apologies needed Dude. In fact the converse: Kudos! If anyone should be apologising its procrustinating [sic] NASA.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procrustes

Okay word came down from above the edits were fine and to reload it into youtube. I still wish PAO would put the full version so folks can see the video as the team who worked so hard on it intended, but until then it should be back up in a little while.

Mike Interbartolo -

What do you mean, you "had to take it down"? Was someone at NASA going to arrest you? You, could have just pointed folks to where ever NASA "may" end up posting the full video. I sent that link to 75 people at my company. Now it is just another example of NASA's inability to communicate effectively with the public - in this case apparently because they threatened a supporter.

Thanks for having the original file to download!