Re: Excellent Venus Express Launch Photos


Damon Hill wrote:
> "Ed Kyle" <edkyle99@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
> news:1131563353.520648.189210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx:
>
> > A series of very nice photos of the preparation and
> > launch of Soyuz FG/Fregat ST-14 with ESA's
> > Venus Express are at the following web site:
> >
> > "http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=31141&farc
> > hive_objecttypeid=18&farchive_objectid=30912"
> >
> > These are probably the best R-7 launch photos I've
> > seen.
>
> The resolution in the pad liftoff image has enough detail
> to show optical heat distortion of the exhaust plume in
> the background; I've never noticed that before in any
> photograph.
>
> Great detail of the pad support arms and umbilical
> arm; they tuck just far enough out of the way that
> the exhaust plume doesn't impinge on them. For all its
> simplicity, the R-7 system has a certain elegance.

And a certain classic form too. The launch apparatus and
the launch vehicle together have a 1940s science fiction
look to them. R-7 is all flares and tapers and complex
conic sections. The flower petal launch system looks like
something assembled from my dad's classic Erector Set.
Compare this to the modern Zenit, which is a cold tall
cylinder with a single solid umbilical arm.

- Ed Kyle

.

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