Phenomenal rocket power

STS-124 launched on May 31, and pictures of the launch are available here. A space shuttle launch is an amazing thing to behold, even through still photography. The sheer power, the billowing clouds of steam erupting from flame trenches on each side of the launch structure… if that doesn’t inspire awe, frankly I don’t know what will.

Once in a while, though, all that flame and steam and power gets a little more powerful than we expect. After the launch, Kennedy Space Center reported seeing debris flying away during liftoff. It was hard to tell at the time whether the debris came from the launch pad or the shuttle. Turns out it was the pad:

“Wow” was the first thing out of my mouth, followed by the relieved thought, “phew, at least it wasn’t the shuttle.” From the above photo, you can’t really tell how large or extensive the damage is. It looks damaged, don’t get me wrong, but to give an idea of just how much power is coming out the back end of the space shuttle during launch, here’s a sampling of debris photos taken later on:

Um, boom?

KSC-08PD-1760 (06/16/2008) — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Debris is scattered across the area outside the perimeter of Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Boom. Definitely boom.

KSC-08PD-1758 (06/16/2008) — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Debris is scattered across the area outside the perimeter of Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

Those bricks… are HUGE.

KSC-08PD-1759 (06/16/2008) — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Debris stretches along the perimeter of Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

It’s always useful to have people in the picture, for scale. Learned this in geology class.

KSC-08PD-1756 (06/16/2008) — CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Workers examine some of the damage to the wall of the flame trench on Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center where damage occurred during the May 31 launch of space shuttle Discovery. Repairs are expected to be completed in time for space shuttle Atlantis’ STS-125 mission to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope targeted for Oct. 8. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

And finally, just for reference, the steam (and bricks) comes out of that big black rectangular hole in the photo below. Boom.