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October 29, 1998 (Webmaster note: please allow some additional time for loading the photos on this page) 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.
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.
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
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Contributor
since 1998
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Behind
the Viewfinder - A Year in the Life of Photojournalism |
