At 06:37pm EST on August 8th, 2007, Space Shuttle Endeavour lit her fires and lifted off, headed for the cosmos for a rendezvous with the ISS on its planned 11 day mission to provide supplies and deliver scientific experiments in SPACEHAB's logistics module.
Led by commander Scott Kelly, Endeavour's launch provided me with an experience that will leave me forever changed. I brought my Nikon D80 and my 300mm lens to capture the moment but before I deliver the photos, let me first say that I was only able to take photos for the first few seconds. Once the sound hit me, I was so awe struck that the camera went to my side and all I could do was watch.
As I am sure you can intuit, this was my first Space Shuttle launch. I was fighting back tears. This amazing achievement of our human race -- I felt a oneness with everyone on the planet. To see what a group of minds can accomplish; millions of moving parts, timings, and precision of unfathomable scale. I was not successful in holding back all of my emotions -- goosebumps, and yes a few tears.
I digress -- I was able to squeeze off a few shots of which I am extremely proud. One I sent to CNN, and to my surprise, I actually got a call back in less than five minutes. They wanted first to verify that the photo was taken today due to the fact that I was able to get a higher contrast in my pictures than their previous submissions. In fact, they requested a version that had more of the haze found in the others they had received so that, "... we won't have to explain to our viewers why some photos are light and hazy, and yours is so clean..." This is my first published photo, and by CNN! I couldn't be more overwhelmed. What a day.
Here they are:
