CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA — For the first time, NASA has released high-definition video taken during the retrieval of solid rocket booster segments from the Atlantic Ocean. The solid rocket boosters provided 144 million horsepower of thrust for the final launch of space shuttle Discovery on its STS-133 mission.
After each shuttle launch, crew members of the Liberty Star and Freedom Star retrieval ships pull the spent boosters out of the ocean and return them to Hangar AF at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. After they are processed, the boosters are transported to Utah, where they are refurbished and stored, if necessary.
The video includes high-definition video footage from the recovery ships and time-lapse footage of recovery efforts on Freedom Star.
The footage was captured with a Panasonic HPX 3700 high-definition, cinema-style camera with 1080 progressive scanning at 24 frames per second.
The video will be broadcast on NASA Television’s Video File. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules and links to streaming video, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
To view the video on the Kennedy YouTube page, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/nasakennedy