Special to STARTREK.COM by Keith Cowing, SpaceRef.com

Over the past four decades, we've all grown accustomed to seeing images beamed to us from across the solar system. Billions watched live TV from human missions to the moon. Live webcams inside Space Shuttle cockpits and aboard the International Space Station are now routine.

Images of our solar system beamed back from billions of miles away by the Voyager probes have allowed us to view our world in an interstellar context. Together, these images have allowed us to personally witness many pivotal — as well as routine — space exploration events. The opening sequence of Enterprise pays homage to a number of these images.

Recently, NASA and launch vehicle providers have started putting cameras on the side of rockets so as to provide live views of payloads launching into space. In some cases the deployment of satellites has also been captured by such cameras.

A visit to the provider of these "RocketCam" cameras, Ecliptic Enterprises, will allow you to view a number of rocket launches and satellite deployment videos. The only way to describe the views these cameras provide is "out of this world."

Up until now, however, these outside views have only been aboard unmanned launches. The only imagery we've seen from the outside of a human spacecraft during launch has been provided by science fiction (or films based on science fact, such as "Apollo 13," coming soon to an IMAX theater near you).

Well, that is about to change.

The next Space Shuttle mission to visit the International Space Station will have a webcam mounted on the Shuttle's large External Tank (ET). The "Space Shuttle Vehicle Observation Camera" will be mounted above the Shuttle's nose so as to provide a view looking down at the cockpit and the Earth below. (Illustration courtesy NASA)

The camera will be turned on a few minutes before liftoff and will provide a view of launch, ascent, and the separation after several minutes of the twin Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs).

The camera will continue to provide a view of the Shuttle and the Earth below as the main engines fire for another 6 minutes until the ET is discarded. The view should then show the Shuttle as it establishes orbit and the ET falls back to Earth.

The ET is 154 feet long and 27 feet in diameter and carries the liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel that powers the Shuttle's three main engines. The ET is discarded at a speed just below what is required for it to actually go into orbit. This is done so as to avoid any chance that the Shuttle orbiter might hit it.
Photo: (8 April 2002) The external fuel tank is jettisoned from Space Shuttle Atlantis and falls toward Earth's atmosphere during completion of launch phase of STS-110 mission (courtesy NASA)

While pictures have been taken of the ET as it falls back to Earth from cameras mounted in fuel-line doors in the belly of Space Shuttle orbiters, no one has seen the view from the opposite perspective.

Star Trek viewers will probably find these new images rather familiar, given footage of the launch of Zefram Cochrane's Phoenix in "Star Trek: First Contact" and in the opening sequence of Enterprise.

So, be certain to watch NASA TV in October when a webcam goes where no camera has gone before.

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