Shuttle launch blog: The Last Launch

For a moment yesterday I was utterly overcome as Shuttle Atlantis rose in front of me on a spitting column of flame.

It was surreal. I simply couldn’t believe it was happening.

Maybe it was NASA’s prediction for a scrub. Most shuttles don’t launch on schedule. And with 70 per cent likelihood from Kennedy Space Center meteorologists that the lightening, thunder and torrential rain of the last week would continue, a “go for launch” on Friday morning seemed unlikely.

Maybe it was the surprising lack of official fanfare in the media viewing area: A soggy field, a simple countdown clock and the Stars and Stripes flying atop a modest-sized flagpole. No loudspeakers broadcasting dramatic launch updates. No speeches. No “rocket’s red glare” anthem. No salutes. Stripped down and understated, it all seemed a little un-American, in a way.

Maybe it’s what happens when you’ve thought about something your whole life and you realize it’s finally happening.

For whatever reason, probably all of them, when the countdown clock resumed after holding for a few moments at T-minus 31 seconds, I was a little stunned.

At ten seconds, with shouts, whistles and applause started erupting around me I finally allowed myself to believe the launch could go.

Then I knew it was real.

In front of me, above the strip of Florida brush stretching to Pad 39A – clouds of steam and smoke billowed from a searing orange flare of light at the centre.

A moment later Atlantis was rising slowly skyward on a blowtorch of rocket flame as a thundering, crackling roar swept over us.

Leading up to launch, I was torn about how I wanted to experience it.

As a journalist, with a private passion for shooting stills and video, I wanted to document it. But knowing the best images would always be NASA’s and those with extremely close access, I wondering if I should just simply watch — and soak in the spectacular finish to the Space Shuttle program.

I decided to do a bit of both but the raw power and emotion of the launch changed that – at least for the first moments.

When I looked at my cameras later I realize just how stunned I was. I had the tripod lever of my video camera in gripped in my left hand and the shutter release for my still camera clutched in my right.

The plan was to pan up as Atlantis rocketed skyward with my video camera framed tight and fire as many shots as possible with my still camera framed wide.

The fact is I was so overwhelmed I didn’t do either. For the first few seconds I just watched.

I couldn’t help it.

In that moment I realized I was witnessing the end of the heroic era of space flight. Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and the Shuttle program inspired tens of millions with the thrill of manned space flight.

NASA led the charge in that daring adventure – and now as I stood there on that field watching astronauts hurled aloft for the last time – my thoughts shifted from amazement that the launch was really happening to the sober realization that something remarkable was really ending.

A few seconds into the launch I gathered my wits enough to start panning as the shuttle cleared the tower – and began hitting the shutter release in my other hand.

Less than a minute later, Atlantis punched a hole in the high clouds and was gone.

It left behind a thick pillar of smoke stretching to the heavens.

I stood there a long time just watching it drift away.