Two For The Price Of One

As you may or may not know, there are currently two space shuttles on the launch pads waiting to blast off to space. I figured this was too good a photo opportunity to pass up, so I headed over to Cape Kennedy this past Sunday with telephoto lens in tow. Unfortunately, security is tight, and they wouldn't let us out to the usual shuttle vantage point to the East of the launch pads. You'll have to make do with three different viewpoints from something like one to seven miles away. And only one of those spots lets you actually see a shuttle without a gantry in the way. The top photo is from the causeway between Cape Kennedy and Cape Canaveral. Someday soon I hope to get a pass to shoot a launch from this spot, as it's the closest the public can get during a launch. It's $60 or so for admission, but at only 7 miles distant, it's half the distance from where I usually shoot. The detail down at the bottom is shot from this same spot, and I think that's Atlantis you can see quite clearly. It's Endeavor on the other pad, for those of you keeping score at home.

This view is from the observation platform near where the crawler takes the orbiters to the pad. It's four stories up, so this is probably the best picture of the three, and the light was just right when I shot this. However, both machines are hidden by their launch platforms.

This is the view from behind the Apollo/Saturn 5 center. Still quite a ways away, and the shuttles are still hidden from view.

And as I mentioned above, this is Atlantis on the pad and ready to go from about seven miles away. Don't mind that seagull in the picture, he'll be gone pretty quick when they fire up those solid rocket boosters.