October 29, 1998

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The launch of Discovery and STS-95, better known now as the John Glenn mission, was scheduled for just after 2 p.m. The Kennedy Space Center is about 40 miles from my house so to insure I had plenty of time to get there, I left early - at 5 a.m.

The drive to KSC was smooth and quick but my early arrival was needed more to get a good parking space than anything else. If I had arrived after 7 a.m. I would have been pushed to off-site parking, requiring a shuttle bus to to get to and from my car and my gear.

When I arrived at the press site shortly after 6 a.m., my coworker Red Huber was walking out with a step ladder and a remote camera. Huber was part of a small group of about four photographers who could preset their prime positions for the astronaut walkout - the only photo opportunity of the crew. Huber would attach a remote camera to a roof rafter and preset his ladder to save his space. This early positioning was another special access that Huber had earned through years of shuttle coverage.

For most launches, Huber is the only photographer from the Sentinel. For the John Glenn mission, we would have six photographers. Huber and I would shoot from the KSC sites. Alicia Wagner and Julie Fletcher would photograph the crowds across the river in Titusville. Gary Bogdon would be in a rented helicopter and Joe Burbank would handle our limited access to President Clinton who was flying in to see the launch.

Throughout the morning, I was left to wander the press site with our celebrity reporter Leslie Doolittle. Doolittle is 5’ 2" of continuous energy and unlimited gumption. She can talk to anyone, ask any question and walk away from it with everyone smiling. We were hampered in our quest for famous faces because the movie-star celebrities would be at a VIP site that was closed to photographers. Instead, we hunted down retired astronauts such as Gordon Cooper, James Lovell, Wally Sherra, Gene Cernan and Bob Crippen. I also shot a few frames of Jim Cantore, a meteorologist for the Weather Channel (VERY popular at my house) and tried to get a clean shot of Walter Cronkite. I even shot a photo of baseball great Ted Williams talking with Tom Brokaw. Williams had been a fighter pilot with John Glenn during The War and was retelling tales of the early days.

Baseball great Ted Williams is also a former combat pilot and friend of John Glenn so he talked with Tom Brokaw before the launch of space shuttle Discovery. Photo by Tom Burton/The Orlando Sentinel©1998

By noon, I was sitting on the concrete in the parking lot, waiting to board a bus that would take me to Astronaut Road, my location for the launch. Huber would shoot from the press site and my position would simply be a backup. There are two launch pads for the shuttle program and for this launch, Astronaut Road is actually the closest manned camera position at just about 3 miles from the pad.

There were only about 10 photographers going to Astronaut Road since most of the media stayed at the press site. When the bus stopped I was once again amazed by the photographers’ mentality. Astronaut Road stretches at least 150 yards but three quarters of the photographers set their tripods right next to each other. As soon as the first tripod is placed, the crowd follows. I walked back down the road about 50 yards, picking a site that would give me a chance for a wide shot too. I prefer to stay away from the pack.

From Astronaut Road, my primary lens was a 600mm. As a vertical frame, it would give me a bit of the water in the foreground and some room at the top of the frame as the shuttle rose off the pad. From this angle, we wouldn’t see the shuttle until it cleared the gantry so I had to anticipate extra space in the frame. The skies were crystal clear, there were no heat waves and the shot was going to look good. I set the exposure for about 1/2 stop under to compensate for the brightness of the engines’ flames. I would have a second camera with an 85mm for a looser, scenic shot.

The countdown sent smoothly until a hold at 9 minutes for an indicator light. That problem was fixed until another hold about three minutes before launch. Five airplanes were flying into restricted KSC air space, undoubtedly press planes and spectators. The countdown resumed a few minutes later.

We listened to the countdown on car radios and scanners. Each moment closer increased the tension and adrenaline. I tried to breath slowly and deeply and concentrated on the pad.

The main engines ignite before liftoff and then the solid rocket boosters kick in. I could see the flame of the engines and heard everyone’s motor drives starting. I waited a few seconds until the shuttle cleared the tower, wanting to conserve film. You never, never want to shoot a roll of film to the end during a launch because the better shot might be later and with a Nikon motor drive, you can burn a roll of film in about 6 seconds.

The roar of the engines reached us a few moments after the liftoff and we could feel the crowd vibrating. The breeze coming across the water increased, batting at us in a rhythm like a frantic oscillating fan. I carefully shot frames until the shuttle left the frame of the tripod-mounted 600mm then switched to a hand held 85mm lens, shooting the wide scenic. When the shuttle rose too high for that photo, I switched back to the 600mm for the contrail photo, featuring the blasting fire of the engines.

No matter how many you see, it is always exciting to experience a shuttle launch. On a beautiful day, Discovery had a beautiful launch.

The view of the launch of shuttle Discovery from Astronaut Road, the closest manned camera position for shuttle launches from Pad 39B. Photo by Tom Burton/The Orlando Sentinel©1998

I returned to the press site, picked up some of Huber’s film and headed out. I left through the north gate of KSC and went out of my way further north to avoid the traffic near Titusville. About two hours later, I was back in Orlando.

As I’ve said before, you never know what is going to happen in the editing process. With six photographers working the launch there were a lot of photos to choose from. In the next day’s paper, I didn’t have a single photo in. And Red’s remotes weren’t on the front either. Instead, we ran an aerial from the helicopter. I think we made a bad choice - the aerial was so loose you couldn’t see the shuttle - but I did my job. I shoot the pictures and then made dramatic newsroom speeches to my bosses about how awful I thought the paper looked. I mean, the photo we ran of Glenn on the front was only 1/2 inch wide! Geez.

But Huber weathered it better than I did. He has, in the past, put in just as much time setting remotes, shooting walkouts and covering the press site only to have the photo run small, in b/w on page 10. Or sometimes not at all. He’s used to that and knows, like I do, that there are worse ways to spend your time.

Red Huber's remote photo taken at the special site. Photo by Red Huber/ The Orlando Sentinel©1998

A photographer must be careful to be stingy with the motor drive so you can shoot photos later in the launch such as this contrail shot. Photo by Tom Burton/The Orlando Sentinel©1998

October 29, 1998

Tom Burton

 

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Tom Burton
< twburton@aol.com >
Senior Staff Photographer
The Orlando (FL.) Sentinel
Other journals by Tom Burton
347 February 18, 2000 Love
341 January 6, 2000

Baby, Baby Baby
333 Is Photojournalism Dead? Tom Burton My comments today will reflect both my love for photojournalism and my respect for its basic tenets.
327 November 8, 1999 Roller Coaster
319 September 19, 1999 The headline on Tuesday’s newspaper was direct. PREPARE YOURSELF
301 July 15, 1999 Burton Rosevear
280 May 10, 1999 I am a certified platypus. It's time to confess.
262 April 16, 1999 "Thank Mr. Burton"
258 March 30, 1999

A "Typical" Day?

 
238 February 27, 1999 Time
227 February 14, 1999 And by the way; the subject - Zora Neal Hurston - has been dead for almost 40 years.
209 January 29, 1999 Ok, I’ll answer the most-asked questions first:
200 January 9, 1999 Could there be a photo-columnist?
186 December 12, 1998 The Nutcracker
167 October 29, 1998 The launch of Discovery and STS-95
166 October 28, 1998 Huber is one of a handful of photographers who has been setting remotes since the very first shuttle launch in 1981.
156 October 9, 1998 The waiting is the hardest part
147 September 15, 1998 When we edited the film, this last photo kept jumping up at us. It was far less planned than any cover we’ve done - in fact, it was probably the least calculated photo of the entire shoot - but it had that certain "ooomph" we wanted.
139 August 28, 1998 A firefighter returns
128 August 4, 1998 How to be a Model - or Just Look Like One!
124 July 30, 1998 I recently did something I’ve never done before. I went to a press conference without my cameras.
123 July 29, 1998 Some of the newest members of our staff were surprised at the persistence of the British press. They just won’t stop and they want everything. It is quite the clash in cultures when this kind of story goes global.
108 July 6, 1998 For more than a month, it hasn't rained much more than a spit in Central Florida
106 June 30, 1998 Yesterday I was part of the pack, looking for the celebrity of the moment and facing Armageddon.
105 June 27, 1998 At my newspaper, we run photography-based illustrations to illustrate stories that don't lend themselves to documentary styled photojournalism.
94 June 14, 1998 "I'm on vacation..."
81 May 29, 1998 When I decided to shoot a figure drawing class, I knew that I’d be up against some newspaper taboos.
75 May 22, 1998 An open letter to Joe Jaszewski
69 April 30, 1998 The Last Word
61 April 16, 1998 Femme Fatale
55 April 5, 1998 Finding "life" in photojournalism
38 March 15, 1998

Spring Fashion - The Printed Page

March 6 , 1998 Spring Fashion - a final editWhich photo do you think would make the best cover?

February 27, 1998 Spring Fashion - the fifth day As a photographer, I try to

anticipate anything that can go wrong. February 26, 1998 Spring Fashion - the fourth day The shoot went very well and there may be one or two more contenders for the cover

February 25, 1998Spring Fashion - the third day...the most debated, discussed and sometimes over-thought decision is which photo will be on the cover.

February 24, 1998Spring Fashion - the second dayBut during a fashion shoot like today, I shoot Polaroids proofs on everything

February 23, 1998Spring Fashion - the first dayThe phone rang at 6:30 a.m...The obvious question was, "what's going on?"
20 February 19, 1998 While photojournalists seek to document the reality of their world, fashion photographers conspire with beautiful models and clever stylists to create a fantasy.
10 February 1, 1998 Last night, I had a dream
8 January 28, 1998 I’ve found that my best work happens when I surprise myself
 
Contributor since 1998
  
   


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