Launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-126 11/14/2008

[BlazingAngels220099]

Which does more work getting the shuttle in space, the SRBs or the shuttles main engines?

[jazzguitar2010]

As we are retiring the space shuttle program, these night launches will probably be remembered most of all. They were spectacular, staying up all night, and anticipation of the shuttle launching. I miss the shuttle already.

[laszlofulop76]

I was there, it was amazing. One and only launch I've seen in my life. Awesome, amazing experience!

[RazorEyeYTC]

This was the mission that got me into the space shuttle program. Too bad Endeavour's gone now. It will always be my favourite space shuttle. ALWAYS

[063209dr]

I understand explosives are fitted to destroy the vehicle should it go out of control. And unlike the Apollo missions, I also understand there's no launch escape facility. Consequently, it's clear the crew are considered dispensable, which means one has to be very brave or stupid to hitch a ride.

[yarbas89]

what is the purpose of the gas vents at the bottom of the engine nozzles ??

[spacevidcast]

@yarbas89 The space shuttle uses super cooled liquid hydrogen and oxygen as its fuel for the main engines. This fuel boils off at a very low temperature, so the gas you see at the top and bottom of the vehicle are the liquid fuels turning to gas as they boil off.

[TrainGuy33]

Most Space Shuttle Missions Are In The Day! Why Was This One Launching At Night?

[spacevidcast]

@TrainGuy33 Because it just happened to be the right timing when the ISS orbit was in-plane with the launch pad. Plus there was a lot of confidence in the launch being successful.

[John19182004]

@spacevidcast no more or less "confidence" in it being successful; if they didnt' think it would be, they wouldn't fly.

[eastsidelife4ever36]

@John19182004 bullshit

[John19182004]

@TrainGuy33 Out of now 133 flights, 99 have launched during the day. For missions to the ISS, the launch time is when the earth is in-plane with the orbit of the station; so it could be at any time of day.

[Mspsychapussycat]

@TrainGuy33 So did Russia's Shuttle Buran

[AshleyLynn829]

That Was Amazing!!!!

[JBM425]

The PAO people talk way too much at liftoff. Do we really need to hear "Liftoff...liftoff of Space Shuttle Endeavour as it does blah-blah-blah to benefit all humanity" on each mission? How about a simple "Liftoff of Endeavour...tower cleared" (the bare minumum, just so people without video can reasonably follow along). Save the phony drama and as Joe Friday would say, "Just the facts, ma'am."

[denissianto]

why don't we find another less fuel-consuming method to send spacecraft to space?

[spacevidcast]

@denissianto This is the most fuel efficient way we can afford to get the mass of the space shuttle orbiter (and its payload) to orbit. It takes a lot of energy to get something to go 17,500 mph 150+ miles high.

[spacevidcast]

@SupermassiveDrummer Those are protective Tyvek covers used to protect the Reaction Control System (RCS) ports from debris. The shockwaves from ignition blast the covers off. They're basically a heavy paper that won't damage the orbiter. All of the larger RCS nozzles on the nose use the Tyvek covers too. They're designed to fall off within 14 seconds of lift off. You can see them better during day launches.

[DizzleMovies]

FIREWORK 10:07

[tipo16v]

"throttle up"

[manyworlds123456789]

Where can i find some information on the procedures of pre-launch and after launch? (exactly what they say)

[BoxheadBountyHunter]

i was at the launch site at this flight because my mom was the collage roommate with stephan Bowen"s wife. it feels like it was yesterday, all i remember was the lady saying "90 seconds from launch" and then wat felt like a year later i hear "3 secons, engines are go" the whole sky went completly white and the ground was shaking!!! i remember that 7:58 like it was yesterday, i also got a good school report out of it!!!!!!!!!

[applesweeter]

Dear All,

I have some questions about psychology:

(1) Why do we love space travel?

(2) Why do we want to explore the space?

(3) Why do we enjoy the feeling of zero gravity and floating in space?

(4) Why do we think that space exploration is about leadership and "working together"?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE for your creative ideas and brainstorm!!! :)

[spacevidcast]

@applesweeter 1; Because it's new, foreign and has an awesome view

2; Because it's part of human nature. We're explorers thanks to our ancestry and genetics. (Some would call it evolution)

3; Because it's new and different.

4; Because as explorers, we should be able to get along, because we're all going for the same goal. There's plenty out there to share.

[barthoedemaker]

The red tank ( main tank ) burns in atmosphere, the 2 whites ones ( boosters ) are used again.

[antonprins]

What happens with the main external tank when it has done the job and it is rejected from the space shuttle?

[spacevidcast]

You're close, it is actually "Go at throttle up". They throttle the engines down during the period of maximum dynamic pressure, or Max Q. This is when the most amount of aerodynamic stress is being exerted on the vehicle. They basically bring the engines down a bit to not overly stress the vehicle and have it shake apart. Once they pass Max Q they throttle the engines back up to 104%, which is the call you hear. Since this orbiter was Endeavour the call was "Endeavour, Go at Throttle Up"

[CazK88]

@spacevidcast

That "Go at throttle up" always gives me the chills since the 1986 Challenger disaster. As they throttled, that's when the shuttle exploded. But as we learned from that tragic disaster, we take precautions by avoiding bad weather conditions and identifying abnormalities of the overall craft. Science is such a beautiful thing!

[TachieBillano]

Oh God -- you're right. And up until you mentioned this detail about the 1986 Challenger disaster, I couldn't figure out why I kept involuntarily gritting my teeth every time I'd specifically hear mission control tell them to "go at throttle up". I was only 12 back in 1986, and I guess the memory of all that got seared into my mind.

(RIP brave astronauts, we will never forget you all.)

[CazK88]

@spacevidcast

Why is is after a ceretain height you can no longer hear the boosters and the overall craft? Is it that after a certain height the soundwaves penetrate?

[ichbinsdoch]

Space! Nice video! Thank you very much.

[fabriciodeldongo]

Estos muñequitos son muñequillos.

Pendejadas

[AL3J4NdR001]

@fabriciodeldongo

el unico pendejo eres tu ;)

ve a otro lado a jugar con tus "muñecas"...

maricon de mierda

jejejejejj

[fabriciodeldongo]

Es una imagen de idiotas.

Putos muñecos que valen verga.

[britishareawesome69]

what?

[triduza]

what is that steam under the engines?

[ichbinsdoch]

It's water. To protect the launch pad and the shuttle because of the acoustic pressure from engines.

[ichbinsdoch]

But there is liquid nitrogen too to cooling the engines.:)

[triduza]

ic) thx)

[mach25man]

There is no liquid nitrogen used to cool engines

[spacevidcast]

@triduza The vapor you see coming from the engines long before they are lit is gaseous hydrogen, used to pre-chill the engines so that the thermal shock of main engine ignition doesn't cause the engine bells to crack and explode. SSME's burn at 6,000F. The engine bells are only 0.1" thick, so they kept cold so as to not crack with the heat.

[denissianto]

@spacevidcast what is the function of the engine bells? why it must be put underneath if they were to be kept from crack and exploding ? When the actual engine is being lit, weren't those engine bells cracked anyway because of extreme heat ?

[spacevidcast]

@denissianto No, the engine bells are regeneratively cooled. There's a very thin layer (0.1" thick) of copper coating separating the material of the bells, and the 6,000F exhaust. Liquid hydrogen is pumped all around the bells (and the copper) to keep them cold so that the heat doesn't melt them.

[John19182004]

@denissianto the function is to direct the thrust. The heat of the main engines is hot enough to boil iron; however they combat that by thousands of lines of liquid hydrogen (which is more than 400 degrees below zero Farenheit) that keep them from melting.

[pinsnpies]

What the hell is "downrange"?

[IanRubin2]

Distance away from the launch site.

[skunkworks226]

downrange means the distance travelled by the spacecraft in relation to the earth. so if the guy says 10 n miles downrange from ksc, that means if you drove 10 n miles in the direction of the spacecraft, you'd be directly below it

[Claire2OO9x]

haha endeavour is my house at school

[xTRemeBLitz1]

what the heck is your problem mario, i was an astrounot 1st

[TheXtreme11]

that video make me be an astronaut

[mach25man]

Coffee flies every flight. Bagels only when requested...

[bestamerica]

i love american space shuttle is the best than ussr russia cheap buran space shuttle

[UdallIn72]

The mission numbers are really jacked up, eh?

STS-125 launched in May of this year, and STS-127 goes in July.

...And 126 launched.... Last November?

I guess you don't have to be able to count to get into rocket science.

[spacevidcast]

LOL... Mission numbers are done at the time of mission assignment not at the time of launch. So if a launch gets delayed or pushed back for any reason in the cycle, they can launch out of order. Since missions are prepared years in advance, this is an easy thing to have happen.

[UdallIn72]

Yeah, I know... Maybe they should have set it up so they could be assigned a number when they're launched?

Also, the 41, 51 and 61-numbered flights are seriously wack.

it's like the launch itinerary was set by rolling dice.

[evedevi]

geek boy

[kamal10928]

YOU are still a lie

[HNDNV07]

Like take a number? Yes, I would like 1 STS-128 to go please, oh yeah, and a coffee & bagel, lol. Just kidding, man.

[UdallIn72]

Well, they do carry a giant LOX tank up with them.

Maybe they should pack some bagels.

[dannyridz91]

Okay guys heres the lowdown;

The external fuel tank burns up in the atmosphere therefore it cannot be reused.

The SRB's return to earth and parachute into the nearby bay where a recovery ship recovers them and returns them for refurbishment at Keneddy Space Centre

[mach25man]

Tank burns up and pieces fall into Indian ocean. Nasa ships are waiting for the parachuting boosters 140 mies off the coast. Boosters are refurbished and used again.

[chaqui13]

is all reused, picked up by the navy at sea.

[xxSveinxx]

ok guys..just to say it clearly..the main tank fals into sea and can be reused. the other boosters are getting desroyed in the orbit cause of the abnormal heat

[MikeFrylinck]

It's the other way around. The SRB's are reusable and the main tank is not. I still don't exactly know what happens to the main tank. I assume it burns up on it's return to earth...?

[ulisespaceprobe]

yes, it is destroyed by the heat of the fall trough the atmosphere. It cannot be recovered, it is one of the most expensive parts of the whole ship...!

[ulisespaceprobe]

wrong. it's vice versa as you said..!

[ShiniRyuk]

Try again. The last new shuttle to be rolled out was Endeavour in 1992. Columbia was destroyed in 2003.

[TeamCamino]

what happens to the external tank? is it falling down to earth? or does it go to space? because of the main engine cut off, i would presume that it would go into space?

[Escul1960]

Actually when they fall off the shuttle they fall back to earth. They have parachutes attached to them and they are recovered from the sea to be used at another time - just like the shuttle itself.

[TeamCamino]

that are the solid rocket boosters! i knew that, but the external tank falls off when the main engines are shut off. So that would mean the shuttle would fall out of the air to!?

[ikettles]

The shuttles thrusts upwards using its orbital moverniring system engines (basically bursts of nitrogen mixed with other gasses) upwards to increase veloctity so it does not end up on the same trajectory as the ET.

[SgtUberGrunt]

hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide power the OMS engines

[Jsanc2075]

Yes, it falls back to earth and cannot be re-used. The solid rocket boosters on the other hand, CAN be re-used. :)

[nasagal]

actually the external tank burns up upon re-entry to earth/atmosphere. the solid rocket boosters are reused.

[trebloct]

I was there it was just sweet!

[BasserPeti]

Oh, lucky You.... I wish I could watch it in Florida...but I am living in Hungary :((

[JjOoNnNnYyBb]

do what i did i was in florida and went to watch this and im from uk totaly awsome to see it live

[hhimmel]

this makes you feel like you can do anything in your life!

[GoOrNoGO]

We was there and we saw this amazing powerful moment. Thanks NASA for this

[Julius121081]

Who is the female announcer that's counting down the seconds?

[balarat84]

jolisa fiss

[theconcorden]

Totally AWESOME!

[sjsv260]

my friend how do you do to put a large video duration...??? 19min and 35sec..??

[kix96fan]

i think you can have a paid subscription otherwise its only 10 mins per vid

[natsannho]

I watched this from Melbourne Beach in Florida it was soooo exciting (first time I saw a launch) and this video captures all the suspense and excitment. Really nice video thanks for posting :)

[chazzboi08]

very nice video i like it:)

[crimsoncoin]

Geat Vid.

[Ajntb2Sli]

Beautiful!

[songbirdsearching]

What a wonderful thing. Captured the video so we can watch it again. But I saw a brief video of a lost tool box outside the station today. Did that happen outside the space station?

[Schwarze24]

ACCESS

[Schwarze24]

Excellent video!!!

[IntermittentSprocket]

A new president can keep the space shuttle still flying so getting written to the new president, he might care about the space program and progress unlike that fucked up Bush who never cared why else would he order its retirement, he only cared about being a warmonger and killing people!

[JGalva88]

The space program is not ending. Its just the Space Shuttle that's getting Retired in 2010. Then were gonna have a New Vehicle. The Ares/Constellation thing.

[IntermittentSprocket]

Brilliant that was smashing launch as she lit up the night sky over the coast of Florida.

[tweety3rhyme]

good luck endeavour may God bless us all

[kitajuriss]

f...h...6699....

your name says it all....

[jjlucash]

The launch. Hey, we're talking about retarded nit-wits, here.

[craigjkb]

thank's good video

[nasa629]

I can't believe that there are less than 10 misssions left for the shuttle before retirement! I love NASA!!!

[ClimaxJumper]

Im proud to be an american!

[mike2rz]

Simply amazing....Return safe to home Endeavour

[diegoyotta]

makes me proud to be human

[gurlcrush4]

o shit!!! when i looked out of my backyard, it was a yellow black light. it waz freakin awsom!!!!!!!!!!

[MtDrew24]

It doesnt matter what I do. Everytime I see those engines fire up and watch the shuttle lift off. Always takes my breath away and brings a tear to my eye.

[rockfilmers]

I watched last night and I think it was the best on that I've seen

[SirHulk1977]

the space program will not be the same once they retire the shuttle.space flight is a serious risk at all times.and even through all the risks that has been taken with the shuttle system,i ,along with millions of others who are space cadets,feel it was worth every second.but we must move on to bigger and hopefully better things.

[bbreasbois]

We drove for about 2 hours in traffic from daytona beach, parking our car in titusville and running like crazy the spot everybody was watching from with less than a minute to go before launch. Talk about good timing.

[BIGJRFAN]

Great video...I've always been fascinated with the space shuttle program!

[MidNight8181]

thank you spacevidcast 4 U/L ^^

[K9houser]

Awesome video this is one thing I want to see before I die. It's amazing to think we can do something like this.

[brudicchio25]

Bellissimo questo video. Bravo.

[mannishmeal99]

Me and my friend stayed up watching it and it was pretty cool. We were up until 1:00am watching. Brilliant

[tobitege]

Beautiful! I love these starts and get watery eyes when I think of the speed whilst riding the beast into orbit. :)