Chris Mann’s Island Blog

Here are a few still images that I took at the launch of the NASA space probe, DAWN, on September 28th. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week I was on vacation in Orlando and by chance while I was there, NASA scheduled the launch of the Dawn space probe, which is being sent to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter investigate the origins of the solar system, and also to orbit around two of the largest asteroids, Ceres and Vesta.

Dawn is well-named, as the launch took place at 7.34am EST last Thursday, shortly after sunrise. I tlook a one-hour drive east from Orlando to Jetty Pier in Port Canaveral, the nearest publicly-accessible viewing location. The Delta 2 Heavy rocket carrying the Dawn probe was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force base rather than NASA’s Cape Canaveral Space Centre (from where the shuttles are launched). This was good as it meant I had a much closer view of the take-off.

Several hundred other people got up early to witness the launch, including press photographers, TV news, and some keen amateurs with seriously long lenses!

Here’s the video clip that I shot of the rocket’s takeoff (6.2MB, QuickTime7 required, opens in a new window).

Sometimes when you need to take a break, it’s nice to just get on a boat and go for a cruise, do some snorkelling, and lie in the sun…

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Be a part of history! Today I am participating in the first ever “blogathonâ€? to raise funds for the through their eyes: africa project. Please go to their blog and give generously today. You can make a difference to some of the neediest people on earth in a very unique way, and we need your help.

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Well, it had to happen sometime - June 12th was my 50th birthday. I have to admit I wasn’t looking forward to it - it seemed like such a big milestone and you always start thinking about “what-ifs?”… Read the rest of this entry »