Movies of the

LASP/CU Rocket Launches

The following movies are in QuickTime format. You need a QuickTime viewer application to watch these movies. They were recorded as 1/4 screen size, so they are not high quality movies.

On Unix / Solaris systems, you can use the "xanim" application as a helper application with your Web browser or for playing the movie once you save the movie on your local system. On Macintosh systems, QuickTime is normally installed for Web browsers using Macintosh System Version 7 or later.

Movie Directory

Movie of our latest launch - NASA 36.192 on Feb 8, 2002
The launch of NASA 36.192 from the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is shown from lift-off until about 50 seconds afterwards as viewed from the ground, and then the viewpoint changes to the view inside the rocket payload as recorded by the Airglow instrument roll control camera. The size of this movie is 6.5 MB, and this movie includes a soundtrack about activites during the flight.

Movie of a Launch - Ground View
The launch of NASA 36.098 from the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is shown from lift-off until about 40 seconds afterwards. The viewpoint of this movie is on the ground about 300 feet from the launch rail. The first stage to ignite is the Terrier booster which burns for about 4 seconds. The second stage is the Black Brant motor which burns for about 20 seconds. The payload will reach a maximum speed of about mach 6 (6 times the speed of sound or 4600 miles per hour). The altitude when the Black Brant motor finishes it burn is 35 km (22 miles). The size of this movie is 2.1 MB.

Movie of a Launch - View from Inside Rocket
The launch of NASA 36.098 from the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is shown from lift-off until about 60 seconds afterwards. This movie is from the CCD camera inside the rocket experiment. The camera looks out the rocket skin through a small hole. During lift-off, there is a round mirror mounted on the rocket skin that views down toward the ground. You can see 2 of the 4 rocket motor fins. The fins of the rocket motors are tilted such that the rocket will spin up to about 4 revolutions per second. This spinning helps to stabilze the rocket during its ascent. The time since launch is shown near the bottom left corner. At 60 seconds, the door with the mirror is blown off so that the airglow spectrograph can make measurements. The size of this movie is 3.5 MB.

Movie of Initial Target Acquistion
The initial acquistion of the targets for the NASA 36.098 flight is shown. The targets are the Sun (not shown) for the solar instruments and the western horizon for the airglow instrument. This movie is from the CCD camera inside the rocket experiment that is aligned about 10 degrees below the airglow field of view. Initially the payload is looking down at New Mexico, then it rolls up looking over Arizona and California. This final view remains for about 6 minutes more while the solar and airglow observations are made. The size of this movie is 1.6 MB.

Movie of Re-entry
Upon completion of the observations, the NASA 36.107 payload is spun up to distribute the heating of the rocket payload during re-entry. This movie shows the spin up period. Because of the rapid spin rate, the ground spins by quickly as a blur. The white patch on the ground is the White Sands National Monument (easier to identify on higher quality movie). A parachute opens later (not shown), and then the payload lands safely in the White Sands Missile Range dessert where it will be recovered about 2 hours later. The size of this movie is 2.6 MB.

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Revised October 1998