shuttle | Scott Fillmer

Yesterday the world finally got to see STS-133 launch after months of delays. It’s the 39th mission of Discovery and the 133rd flight of the Space Shuttle program, and was originally slated to launch on September 16, 2010. I went down to the cape with my Nephew in November hoping to see the launch then, but came about 4 hours shy is getting to see it live.

This time around however I watched it on the iPad NASA App HD. The app is also available for the iPhone but if you have an iPad you basically have an HD TV to watch the launch live. Not even DirectTV right now is offering NASA TV in HD (which is ridiculous). Besides being able to watch NASA TV live in HD you have a host of other information, photos, schedules, and everything you might want NASA-wise.

I wish other companies like Fox News, CNN, ESPN, and the like would look at this app and see how easy NASA made it to watch their broadcast. I understand with the others is a money thing, but the technology is there and the other broadcast companies are only going to gain viewers by offering a mobile platform for their customers. Kudos to the NASA tech guys for making this one of the best free apps for the iPad.

No, I did not actually take these images this time, but I found them to be so spectacular that I had to go ahead and post them as the image of the day. I was forwarded the information on these photos taken by those on the ISS and the Space Shuttle on their last mission. The detail on the full size images (see link below) is just incredible, so if you would like to see them in their full version just click on the link below. [For the images in one PDF click the NASA Endeavor PDF or for full size photos just click on the images]

If I can find any more data about when the images were taken and with what equipment I will post it here. I know that NASA uses a wide variety of Nikon and Canon digital SLR equipment and lenses from the images they take when they first arrive in orbit, but I don’t know body type, lens focal length etc. on these. 73, KI4WLR

These are just a sample of the images shown that were sent over to me, and I think the last picture is Hurricane Dean.

Update: These images were taken by Texas Jim and were originally located at http://www.texasjim.com/NASApix/NASA%20pix.htm but that link is no longer valid, sorry.