I have a contact in the space industry who forwarded me an email with some photos of the Atlantis Space Shuttle launch 9/9/06, viewed from an unsusal perspective. Originally I posted they were shot from the ISS; but, a commenter below has provided a link suggesting they were taken from a NASA high altitude research aircraft. I really don’t know; but, I thought the photos were pretty cool. And, for a change of posting pace, I’m posting them below. 
December 20, 2006 at 8:46 am
dude that’s so awesome!
hmmm, the space station really isn’t that high up though. I thought it was much further out…
December 20, 2006 at 9:47 am
The pictures are real but the description is inaccurate
http://www.snopes.com/photos/space/shuttlelaunch.asp
December 20, 2006 at 9:58 am
Steve, Thanks for the update link. The email that was forwarded to me, originated with an engineer with Boeing. They are pretty cool though.
Dan, You’re right. According to Steve’s link the ISS is much higher in its orbit. Too many Star Trek movies I guess for me.
December 20, 2006 at 10:11 am
Great photo!
You’d be surprised how far away you can see the Shuttle launch, especially at night. In fact, the most recent launch was visible to the naked eye in the mid-Atlantic to NE U.S. (A few minutes into the launch.)
December 20, 2006 at 10:17 am
That makes more sense. I’ve seen other pictures from the ISS, and it sure looked further out. Thanks for the clarification.
December 20, 2006 at 10:19 am
Jared, I can imagine how it would look at night. I would love to go to an actual launch.
It is amazing how far away you can see it in flight as well. The scouts and I were on a camp out on Feb. 1, 2003 and we got up early to see the Columbia as it flew over CA in the early morning hours.
Of course that was the mission that eventually ended in tragedy; but, we were able to see it steak across the early morning sky just before its breakup.
The space program is absolutely fascinating. I wish we had more resources to allocate to it.
December 20, 2006 at 11:09 am
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December 20, 2006 at 11:46 am
Thanks for posting the pictures! I agree that more money for the space program would be nice.
I was lucky enough to be in Orlando when they launched once. Great view from our hotel.
December 21, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Great Pictures! I would love to go to a launch. It would be amazing to feel the earth shake from the power of the space shuttle.
December 23, 2006 at 12:54 pm
awesome … thanks for sharing that!
January 18, 2008 at 11:34 am
Photos reached me yesterday, and I sent them onward, then was asked to find source. Google Works!
I remember being on the 3rd floor of my aerospace company when the first shuttle after Columbia launched. I was working on an International MicroGravity Lab experiment (that flew on the shuttle in ’92 and ’95). All of us working the “Space” program who could, crowded into the largest possible room that had TV reception (it was still small, and quickly got hot from us all packed in like sardines) for this special launch. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife and we all held our breaths as long as possible – at least until the 8 seconds had passed, which is when the Columbia exploded.
I guess the AWACS “upstairs” were tracking the launch, as we watched the shuttle move upward along its launch path …. dwindling, dwindling, dwindling … it seemed to go on forever, with a quiet murmur cameras and tracking capability had expanded exponentially during the no launch years.
It was breathtaking then (as was the ’95 shuttle landing) and when I saw both those photos? It looked like exactly what I saw then, except for the perspective. It’s an awesome experience.
January 18, 2008 at 12:15 pm
“The space program is absolutely fascinating. I wish we had more resources to allocate to it.”
NASA’s FY 2008 budget of $17.3 billion represents about 0.6% of the $2.9 trillion United States federal budget.
In other words, given that conservative estimates place the cost of the Iraq war at $500 billion so far, for that price we could have had thirty times as much space program.
January 18, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Actually, I just realized that’s wrong. The war costs cover 4-5 years, so we would only have had 6-7 times as much space program.