The Shuttle & SpaceX : Photo Synthesis

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Photo Synthesis is a rotating showcase of the best science photography on the web.

Ted Kinsman is a scientific photographer that specializes in creating images for books, magazines, and television. His particular areas of interest are in x-ray radiography, high-speed photography, Scanning electron microscopy, and time-lapse cinematography. His work has appeared in numerous books and magazines ranging from Discover Magazine to Forbes. Recently his work has appeared on Gray's Anatomy and CSI New York. In addition to running www.sciencephotography.com Kinsman also teaches advanced placement physics at Brighton High School in Rochester, NY, he also teaches advanced macro-photography at Rochester Institute of Technology.

B.N. (Bobbie) Sullivan has a strong affinity for the sea and everything in it. She first learned to dive in 1970 and has since logged thousands of dives. A wish to document the marine life she encountered prompted her to learn underwater photography more than 20 years ago. More recently, she began to write about the marine life she has photographed. A research psychologist by profession, she approaches her subject matter with the mindset of a scientist, but targets her writing to a general readership in whom she hopes to foster an appreciation for the ocean and its inhabitants.

Bobbie lives in Hawaii with her husband. Together they produce TheRightBlue.com, where you can see more of Bobbie's photos and writing.

B Jefferson Bolender is Training Coordinator of the State of Arizona's program for disability awareness and assistive technology. Through her travels she always has a camera at hand to photograph everything from people to technology and nature. As a teacher of elementary education, special education and art, her interests include a wide array of subject matter with an emphasis on documentation with an artist's eye.

See more of her work in her photo stream on Flickr and the website atarizona.com.

Steve Jurvetson enjoys rocketry and photography and especially the pursuit of both in the Black Rock Desert. Some action photos and video links can be found here.

Steve is a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ.com), a leading venture capital firm with affiliate offices around the world.

He was the founding VC investor in Hotmail, Interwoven, and Kana. Previously, he was an R&D Engineer at HP, and his prior technical experience also includes programming, materials science research, and computer design. He has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, an MSEE and and MBA, all from Stanford University.

Alex Wild is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he works on the molecular phylogenetics of various groups of insects. He is also a part-time photographer whose images appear in such venues as Ranger Rick, Smithsonian, BBC Wildlife, and even ScienceBlogs.

Alex's galleries are viewable at www.alexanderwild.com, and he normally blogs at Myrmecos Blog.

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The Shuttle & SpaceX

Category: Photography • rockets
Posted on: June 25, 2009 11:55 PM, by Steve Jurvetson

The Shuttle is glorious after midnight awaiting a big adventure...

A complicated design...

Lifts with a thunderous roar...

SRB Separation is visible to the naked eye... and the payload joins the ISS...

As the Shuttle is retiring from operation, SpaceX is gearing up to service the space station and other orbital launch needs:

Here you can see the music video of their first launch to orbit.

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Comments

Got to love that friction stir welded tank on spaceX's vehicle.

I'm a nasa guy (see pic in name link). I work on constellation stuff, and it's definitely one of the most interesting places to work. I get to see almost every launch, sure, but it's all the ground processing that's forever stimulating. You're regularly reminded about just how incredibly complicated space travel really is.

Posted by: Spiv | June 26, 2009 2:26 PM

On one hand I think that the space shuttle is a truly remarkable vehicle. Groundbreaking and innovative. A remarkable technological and creative achievement.

On the other hand the conceptual mish-mash of concepts, materials and methods reminds me of the saying that a camel is a horse designed by a committee. Just during launch we have reusable solid boosters and liquid fuel engines fed by a disposable tank. The shuttle depends on heat resistant tiles, the fuel tank burns up and the boosters come down on parachutes. It is a montage of every popular launch and recovery method in one flight program. A historical cavalcade of methods in every launch and landing cycle. Is it any wonder it is complicated and expensive?

This, of course, comes in large part because of the way it was designed and financed. It was designed by committees of disparate groups, each with its own contradictory goals and requirements. It was financed by making it seem like all things to all people.

The extreme technical complexity and experimental nature was minimized while the safety, reliability and routine nature of the enterprise were emphasized. The program was sold to users using unrealistically short turn around times, fanciful launch rates and unrealistic estimates of cost.

Given the complexity and conflicting goals that went into the design it is a wonder it flew a as well as it did.

Posted by: Art | June 26, 2009 6:05 PM