Neatorama reader Denita TwoDragons suggested this YouTube clip:
Spine-tingling 9-minute, full-sound footage of a Space Shuttle launch (July 4th) via an onboard camera mounted to one of the SRBs…from liftoff to splash-down.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube] – Thanks Denita!
See also: Space Shuttle Discovery Fun Facts | STS-121 Mission [wiki]
Denita TwoDragons
My son has been doing his “Tumbling SRB Interpretive Dance” all day today…*LOL*
–TwoDragons
aware
cool! a different kind of google earth type view of the launch site.
i like how the tinkly noises stop once it leaves our atmosphere. in space… no one can hear you tinkle!
aware
oh wait… then halfway thru we get whooshy sounds, building building building… expecting to see a monolith and hear monkey chorus rising soon…
aware
and just wondering, why does it spinnn so much? is the whole shuttle spinning like that? if so, why?
Denita TwoDragons
The SRB is spinning because of the little rocket that fires as it’s being jettisoned, that pushes it away from the shuttle. It causes the booster to cartwheel as it falls to earth, until the drag chutes deploy. (You can tell when that happens because the image goes from “spinning” to “weaving drunkenly”…)
–TwoDragons
Silent002
Wow, thanks for that link, Denita and Neatorama, I’ve been looking for something like that for quite a while! This would be NASA mission STS-115, shame I missed the live launch of this Mission on NASA TV, but this video certainly makes up for it. 
I believe that the spinning of the Shuttle was something to do with targeting… I remember that it had to take off at an angle to get downrange quickly to catch up with the ISS, since the mission had to be postponed because of Safety concerns (Something to do with Oxygen and Fuel pressure gauges, right?).
Anyway, I just found out that this video, and a few more, can also be found at http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/52884. Thanks again for this!
Silent002
Ah yes, I wasn’t sure if Aware was talking about the Shuttle or the SRB.
You can also tell when the primary chutes deploy because there is a big white flash. The three main chutes deploy only around 30 seconds before splashdown, there’s another, smaller pop when they are released.
Denita TwoDragons
Thanks for more shuttle-related coolness, Silent002! My son will probably spend the rest of the evening dancing the “Shuttle Dance” now…and then fall soundly asleep with visions of spaceborne rockets in his head… ^__^
–TwoDragons
Alex
“Tumbling SRB Interpretive Dance” Hahahahaha! You should videotape that Denita!
H8
“Tumbling SRB Interpretive Dance†Hahahahaha! You should videotape that Denita!
I second that, That would be a great video.
John
Great footage. I love the entire RocketCam program. I wonder if they had a camera on the main tank as well. I have seen footage from that before and it’s spectacular when they jettison that tank.
Extra points for affixing a transducer to the spaceframe so we get all the nice creaks and pops from the SRB.
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