Cape Canaveral, Fl- Endeavour Launch (Courtesy Phil Celli)
CAPE CANAVERAL, FL- For almost a minute, the black sky over Kennedy Space Center turned from pre-dawn dark into a brilliant flash of white,and orange. Night, for an extended moment, turned into day, as the Space Shuttle Endeavour roared upwards, eventually becoming a small light, like a rising star, above the cheering crowd that had gathered for this historic mission, NASA’s last scheduled night launch for the venerable shuttle program.
A man cried softly while he filmed the orbiter lifting off, overcome with emotion by the awesome sight. His face exposed by the radiance coming from the powerful launch, as he held his camera towards the booming horizon.
24 hours earlier, it was a much different scene at Kennedy Space Center, as the initial launch time was scrubbed because of a troubling low-level cloud ceiling. At one point today, the problematic weather went “red” again, but soon the frustrating cloud problem cleared, and the NASA forecasters gave the go for launch.
The collective sentiment here then turned from worry to joy- almost giddiness- among the patient who gathered in the middle of the night to witness this significant moment in NASA’s long history.
There are only four Space Shuttle missions left. All of them day launches.
The Endeavour carries with its crew of six a new module, and cupola for the International Space Station. It is scheduled to dock at the ISS early tomorrow morning.