STS-92 LAUNCH PICS

PRE-LAUNCH IMPRESSIONS - STS-92
(all pictures by TSE)

CAPTURED FROM NASA CAUSEWAY DURING BOTH LAUNCH ATTEMPTS

From left to right
a) Discovery covered with RSS on Pad 39A on Sunday October 1st
b) the Emergency Egress tanks are standing by for launch near pad 39A
c) Discovervy on Pad 39A 2 hrs. prior to launch on October 11th 2000 (10x Zoom - 6 miles)
d) View of the launch area without using any zoom (1:1 view)
e) NASA security observing NASA Causeway with helicopter and infrared cameras
f) Weather above NASA Causway 2 hrs. prior to launch - dark and cloudy
g) Weather impression looking south from NASA causeway 30 minutes prior to launch

LAUNCH IMPRESSIONS - STS-92
(all pictures by TSE)

CAPTURED FROM THE NASA CAUSEWAY USING A MINOLTA DYNAX 800 & SIGMA 500 MM ZOOM LENS

Launch occured Wednesday October 11th 2000 at 7:17 PM EDT with a launch window of approx. 2 minutes.
The first launch attempt set for October 5th 2000 at 9:38 PM EDT was scrubbed due to a concern in regard
of a bolt on the External Fuel Tank and a sluggish valve which had to be replaced.
Discovery was cleared by NASA for a launch attempt on Tuesday October 10th at 7:40 PM EDT. This launch attempt
was scrubbed during the T-20 minutes hold due to a small piece of equipment which was located on the ET structure.
Launch managers decided to make a 24 hour turnaround to remove the piece and to ensure a 100 % safe launch without any issues.

This was a dawn launch as you can see on the last two images which were captured during and after SRB separation.
The sun is still shining high above and sunlight is reflecting in the SRB exhaust plume.

NASA LAUNCH IMPRESSIONS - STS-92
(all pictures by NASA)

a) Discovery after RSS rollback
b) Crew departs for first launch attempt
c) Commander Duffy returns after launch scrub
d) Crew departs for second launch attempt
e) Close-up of pin which caused launch scrub
f) Discovery launches
g) Discovery launches
h) Discovery lanchesr