Space Shuttle Projects

This is a view of the video camera mounted on the External Tank (ET) of the Space Shuttle Orbiter Atlantis (STS-112). The camera provided a view of the front and belly of the orbiter, a portion of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs), and ET during the launch. Located high on the ET liquid oxygen tank cable tray, the camera, 6 inches long and resembling a short thin flashlight, is inside an aluminum fairing covered in protective insulating foam. The battery pack and transmitter are contained in an electronics box and mounted in the intertank crossbeam inside the ET. The camera turned on 15 minutes prior to launch and operated for about 15 minutes following liftoff. At liftoff, viewers saw the Shuttle clearing the launch tower and, at 2 minutes after liftoff, saw the right SRB separate from the ET, and ET separation about 8 minutes into the flight. The video was downlinked from the ET during flight to several NASA data-receiving sites and then relayed to the live television broadcast. It provided the STS-112 team an opportunity to monitor the Shuttle's performance from a new angle. Launched on October 7, 2002, Atlantis carried its primary payload, the S1 Truss for the International Space Station.