Skydivers view of shuttle launch

[simonrockman]

http://i.imgur.com/NwfUx.jpg

[anonymous-user]

Glad he didn't drift too far

Amazing view though!

[cptsideways]

Epic photo!!

I guess they are fairly high up?

[andy_s]

Very cool

[ofcorsa]

Awesome capture

Was it planned?

[Simpo Two]

'As I was falling to earth, both chutes having failed, I saw a space shuttle coming up towards me. I shouted across to them "Do you know anything about parachutes?" . "No", they replied, "Do you know anything about O-rings?"'

[14-7]

Great photo.

Surprised they allow any flights to happen within that sort of distance of a shuttle launch.

[AndWhyNot]

That's a keeper!

[Emeye]

14-7 said:

Great photo.

Surprised they allow any flights to happen within that sort of distance of a shuttle launch.

Could it not just be a photoshop?

[rhinochopig]

Emeye said:

14-7 said:

Great photo.

Surprised they allow any flights to happen within that sort of distance of a shuttle launch.

Could it not just be a photoshop?

It does look very like that F-15 picture.

[14-7]

Emeye said:

14-7 said:

Great photo.

Surprised they allow any flights to happen within that sort of distance of a shuttle launch.

Could it not just be a photoshop?

That was my first thought .

[longun]

Whats the F15 picture?

[rhinochopig]

longun said:

Whats the F15 picture?

This one - now I've seen it again it's nothing like it My old memories aren't what they used to be...

[TheEnd]

rhinochopig said:

longun said:

Whats the F15 picture?

This one - now I've seen it again it's nothing like it My old memories aren't what they used to be...

Ah yes, shadow from the rocket trail goes one way, but no similar shadows from the rudders/vert. stabilisers, which are in shade on this side.
You can tell by the pixels.
I've seen quite a few photoshops in my time

[FasterFreddy]

TheEnd said:

rhinochopig said:

longun said:

Whats the F15 picture?

This one - now I've seen it again it's nothing like it My old memories aren't what they used to be...

Ah yes, shadow from the rocket trail goes one way, but no similar shadows from the rudders/vert. stabilisers, which are in shade on this side.
You can tell by the pixels.
I've seen quite a few photoshops in my time

So have I and FWIW I don't think either image is Photoshopped. I'm sure someone will find the story on the skydiver one at some point soon. Looks like it was taken a very long distance from the launch site to me, so it is quite feasible a jump could have taken place at the same time and I think it's genuine.

As for the F15 picture, look at the shadows again. The Shuttle isn't travelling vertically. The sun is pretty much at 12.00 and the Shuttle has travelled a fair way downrange, so they look fine to me.

[rhinochopig]

TheEnd said:

rhinochopig said:

longun said:

Whats the F15 picture?

This one - now I've seen it again it's nothing like it My old memories aren't what they used to be...

Ah yes, shadow from the rocket trail goes one way, but no similar shadows from the rudders/vert. stabilisers, which are in shade on this side.
You can tell by the pixels.
I've seen quite a few photoshops in my time

I wasn't claiming that pic to be a shop - I thought someone had taken it as the base and shopped in the skydiver. Obviously two very different pics, but I thought they were the same pic from memory - obviously I was wrong.

[Matt Harper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-4Ztz5x6fw

The skydivers are a long, long way north west (assuming the usual launch trajectory) - I'd say over northern Volusia County. They seem to be at a fairly impressive altitude though.
I'm lucky to get to see launches from my back yard and it is not uncommon to have military aircraft buzzing about prior to and during launches.

[JohnS]

Seems like the photo is genuine. More info here:

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_07...

[FasterFreddy]

Rhinochopig, my comments weren't aimed at you, they were aimed at TheEnd.

Both pics are completely genuine from what I can see.

A quick bit of Googling and you can find a skydiving site at Sebastian who seem to always drop when there's a launch happening:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-pqOAK6SOo&fea...

and there are plenty of references for the shot taken of the F-15 from the other one on patrol at the time of the May 14 launch.