The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by bareboards2.

FYI - The video shows that having a constant diameter (cross-section) is not enough to show the shape is round. This was discovered to be a problem in getting segments of the Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters to fit together. (The SRB segments would flex out of shape when they were transported across country lying sideways on railcars.) They had to be forced back to a round shape to fit together, with the O-rings in the gaps. As described in Richard Feynman's book, "What Do You Care What Other People Think?", NASA would measure diameters at different points. But Feynman knew about the funny shapes in this video, and knew that diameter measurements did not prove roundness. The technicians on site always had to keep inspecting the segments as they came together to get them to fit together.

The thumbnail image for this video has been updated - thumbnail added by lucky760.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'amazing' to 'amazing, SRB, space shuttle, rocket, splashdown, space, live mic' - edited by Ornthoron

>> ^lucky760:
Lots more great commentary on this dupe.


Yup, the comments there are recommended. You can see how the SRBs are retrieved here:
http://www.videosift.com/video/Shuttle-Solid-Rocket-Booster-Retrieval-Ships

>> ^grahamslam:
And I thought there was no sound in space? Is it because they are still in somewhat of the atmosphere?

The SRBs never exit the atmosphere. The highest point they reach is around 67 km (220 000 feet), which is about the same altitude where meteors burn up, and well below the altitude of the Northern Lights.

>> ^grahamslam:
And I thought there was no sound in space? Is it because they are still in somewhat of the atmosphere?


The atmosphere is pretty thin up where the movie starts, but it doesn't need air for us to hear the sound. If the mic is attached to the SRB, any noises that it picks up are actually tranmitted through the SRB itself. Rather than using air as a medium to transmit the sound, the actual material of the SRB is conducting the sound waves. (This is the same way you can hear sounds underwater. It's not the same as what you would hear when the sound is transmitted via air, but you can still receive the sound waves.)

If they somehow sent a camera man up to film the SRB, and he was freefalling next to the SRB, there wouldn't be any sound until we heard him screaming as he burned up in the atmosphere.

Thanks for the promote!

In reply to this comment by kulpims:
*promote
also worth seeing: http://www.videosift.com/video/SRB-booster-video-of-space-shuttle-Discovery-launch
http://www.videosift.com/video/Space-Shuttle-view-from-SRB-Launch-to-Splashdown

*promote
also worth seeing: http://www.videosift.com/video/SRB-booster-video-of-space-shuttle-Discovery-launch
http://www.videosift.com/video/Space-Shuttle-view-from-SRB-Launch-to-Splashdown

It's beatiful how the two SRB's spin in complete synchronicity down through the atmosphere. Almost like a dance...

Upvote, but I like this one better... http://www.videosift.com/video/Space-Shuttle-view-from-SRB-Launch-to-Splashdown

Sorry EMPIRE but during this video is when the sound barrier is broken. You don't hear it, and it has nothing to do with the end of the clip with the SRB jettisoning. As pho3n1x points out those are Prandtl-Glauert type clouds which only occur from about .95 to 1.05 the speed of sound. The vapor trails you are speaking of are created by low pressure areas above wings or on trailing edges.

Tags changed from "space shuttle, srb, launch" to "brian eno, deep blue day, secret place" by gold star member lucky760.

The SRBs splash down in the Atlantic about 20 miles out 7.5 minutes or so after launch. The external tank reenters the atmosphere usually over the Indian Ocean.

The shuttle goes on to orbit because it performs an OMS burn 30-45 minutes after launch at its apogee to raise the perigee above the atmosphere.