Last Flight of Space Shuttle Discovery

Mission number STS-133 is to be the last flight of Space Shuttle Discovery.  They're taking supplies and crewmembers to the International Space Station.  We were concerned about a delay, due to a computer reboot.  From 10 miles away it was hard to tell when the countdown ended.  We couldn't hear the sound of ignition.  It was a hazy day and things looked distorted.  At first we saw smoke, then a bright light from a flame.

It was a thrill to see the space shuttle emerge from the smoke and fire.  Space Shuttle Discovery rose silently.

We heard the sound of wind about half a minute after lift off. It sounded like an approaching subway.  There was a low rumble in the background.

The rumble built up to a loud roar. I could feel it. The ground shook.  The length of the flame looked incredible.

Discovery ascended like a brilliant diamond into the sky.  It was hard to take your eyes off of it long enough to shoot photos.

There was a puff of smoke and flames as the solid rocket boosters seperated from the space shuttle. It looked like a distorted flower in the hazy atmosphere. Then three points of light were visible. Two points dropped away from the brighter light of the space shuttle engines.  We watched until the lights disappeared.

Here's where we camped along US 1 in Titusville. A young mother we met near our camp said that she had her kids write down the names of the states they saw on license plates.  They counted 33 different US states and Canadian provinces.

We continued shooting photos of the contrail as we struck camp to leave town.  The wind quickly tore the cloud of smoke apart into a zig zag pattern.

It was bumper to bumper traffic leaving the scene.

More photos of the last flight of space shuttle Discovery for mission STS-133

Our video of the launch of Shuttle Discovery