Shuttle Camera to Offer New View of Launch

When the space shuttle Atlantis lifts off this week, a camera mounted atop the large, orange fuel tank will beam back a shuttle’s eye view of a launch for the first time. Not even the astronauts, restricted to small windows on one of two crew decks used during liftoff, will have such a panoramic view of the 8 1/2-minute climb into orbit--with Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral receding into the distance and the surface of the Earth appearing more curved by the minute. Liftoff is scheduled for Wednesday.

The idea of the camera is rooted less in science than in what one NASA official described as “the ‘wow!’ factor.”

“There may be some engineering value,” said Phil Engelauf, Atlantis’ lead flight director, but the real motivation “is largely just for the cool video.”