12 ms·

IPhone 4 films final Discovery launch from 30,000 feet up.

142 points by marklittlewood 16y ago

marklittlewood 16y ago
I would like to point out that if it had been taken with a HTC Desire HD it would have been even better!
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- mambodog 16y ago
  I would like to point out that if it had been taken with a Canon 5Dmk2 it would have been even better! And so on, and so on, and on...
aw3c2 16y ago
blogspam
- yread 16y ago
  indeed, link to the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM
adsr 16y ago
Wow, lucky guy! Did the plane follow it for a bit? I'm thinking about the remark on the speaker system at 1:28.
- marklittlewood 16y ago
  I think it travelled about 59 miles in 2 minutes so they would have had a job!
  - adsr 16y ago
    Hm, yeah I was referring to horizontally getting closer to the action of the launch.
    - marklittlewood 16y ago
      I think they have a 40 mile no fly zone around the launch site. Good picture of a launch being guarded by an F-15... http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123205663 http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123205663
      - adsr 16y ago
        That definitely makes sense, but on the other hand it doesn't answer the question if they took a detour. Nice picture by the way, thanks.
        marklittlewood 16y ago
        There is something about those pictures that is making me want to make an airfix model - just for the benefit of my son of course...
- biggitybones 16y ago
  Depends where the flight left from - a friend flight was kept on the ground for an extra few min to catch the launch. Or at least that was his assumption.
- chopsueyar 16y ago
  "Drinks are on the house!"
juiceandjuice 16y ago
It's pretty cool that this guy has an autonomous iPhone that films stuff for him.
s00pcan 16y ago
How is it relevant in any way that this was filmed with an iPhone?
- jonknee 16y ago
  How do you know someone has an iPhone? They'll tell you.
  - ugh 16y ago
    What a nice populist sentiment. Also: Completely and utterly wrong. The guy who took the video doesn’t mention his iPhone anywhere, not in the title, not in the video description.
- recoiledsnake 16y ago
  It's very relevant to getting enough attention to come on the front page and grab more votes.
  - DougBTX 16y ago
    As does pointing out that you could do this without an iPhone. Clearly these are the sort of thoughts which can only be described using a qwerty keyboard, right?
- ThomPete 16y ago
  It's not but it's relevant in the perspective that fourspace says further up.
- ugh 16y ago
  The specific device is irrelevant and so is your question. The headline “Smartphone Films Final Discovery Launch From 30,000 Feet Up” would be just as good but complaining about the additional (albeit irrelevant) information in the real headline seems just strange. The information in the headline that this was taken by a smartphone is certainly valuable – you immediately know that this is not about professional video footage for example from a NASA plane but amateur footage taken from a commercial airliner which is a lot cooler. Does it really annoy you and all the people who upvoted you so much that the writer of the headline (not even the guy who took and published the video) went that small extra step and mentioned the specific model of the device used to capture the video and not just the general category? Why exactly?
fourspace 16y ago
A rocket carrying human beings going to space to live for a few days in zero gravity, viewed from an airplane carrying hundreds of humans 30,000 feet in the air, filmed on a camera that fits into your pocket. Do we need any more proof that human beings are incredible?
- aarontait 16y ago
  Or that fossil fuels are incredible...
  - jonknee 16y ago
    Discovery doesn't use fossil fules. The main engines are powered by oxygen and hydrogen and the solid rocket boosters are made up of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum and iron oxide.
    - aarontait 16y ago
      Hydrogen is a storage medium. Fossil fuels are used as the energy source to make the rocket propellant. I can also guarantee you that fossil fuels were used in the production and distribution of the rocket boosters and that the airplane the video was taken from wouldn't be flying if it didn't have any jet fuel in it's tank. Humans are smart creatures, but we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking we would be where we are at now if it weren't for a cheap, albeit limited, supply of highly concentrated energy.
      - kirubakaran 16y ago
        By that logic, fossil fuel is a storage medium too. Solar energy was used as the energy source to make fossil fuel.
        aarontait 16y ago
        True, with the difference being humans (and our predecessors) had to wait hundreds of thousands of years for the fossil fuels to form under the immense pressure (and additional energy input) of the earth.
micah_moo 16y ago
Ya I was watching the launch on tv, then stepped outside and you could see it from the other side of Florida, I've seen a launch up in close once, to bad I was really really sick to enjoy it.
- jcurbo 16y ago
  Yeah, I've seen two launches from Tampa (including the last night launch), and you can see things pretty well. This video blows it away though, I would have loved to be on that plane.
- younata 16y ago
  I was 30 miles south of the launch. It kinda sucked, I saw the first few seconds (which was amazing), then it disappeared into clouds.
CGamesPlay 16y ago
I don't understand what led the author to believe that this was filmed using an iPhone 4; nor why that has anything to do with the rest of the video.
ajays 16y ago
I am ashamed to admit that I have too much time on my hands today. The same video, with an alternate soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXZrkqKo8NQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXZrkqKo8NQ
- softbuilder 16y ago
  Nice. Somehow I expected "The Final Countdown" to be playing. What does this mean?

142 points by marklittlewood 16y ago

marklittlewood 16y ago

I would like to point out that if it had been taken with a HTC Desire HD it would have been even better!

deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
mambodog 16y ago
I would like to point out that if it had been taken with a Canon 5Dmk2 it would have been even better! And so on, and so on, and on...

aw3c2 16y ago

blogspam

yread 16y ago
indeed, link to the original video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE_USPTmYXM

adsr 16y ago

Wow, lucky guy! Did the plane follow it for a bit? I'm thinking about the remark on the speaker system at 1:28.

marklittlewood 16y ago
I think it travelled about 59 miles in 2 minutes so they would have had a job!
- adsr 16y ago
  Hm, yeah I was referring to horizontally getting closer to the action of the launch.
  - marklittlewood 16y ago
    I think they have a 40 mile no fly zone around the launch site. Good picture of a launch being guarded by an F-15... http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123205663 http://www.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123205663
    - adsr 16y ago
      That definitely makes sense, but on the other hand it doesn't answer the question if they took a detour. Nice picture by the way, thanks.
      - marklittlewood 16y ago
        There is something about those pictures that is making me want to make an airfix model - just for the benefit of my son of course...
biggitybones 16y ago
Depends where the flight left from - a friend flight was kept on the ground for an extra few min to catch the launch. Or at least that was his assumption.
chopsueyar 16y ago
"Drinks are on the house!"

juiceandjuice 16y ago

It's pretty cool that this guy has an autonomous iPhone that films stuff for him.

s00pcan 16y ago

How is it relevant in any way that this was filmed with an iPhone?

jonknee 16y ago
How do you know someone has an iPhone? They'll tell you.
- ugh 16y ago
  What a nice populist sentiment. Also: Completely and utterly wrong. The guy who took the video doesn’t mention his iPhone anywhere, not in the title, not in the video description.
recoiledsnake 16y ago
It's very relevant to getting enough attention to come on the front page and grab more votes.
- DougBTX 16y ago
  As does pointing out that you could do this without an iPhone. Clearly these are the sort of thoughts which can only be described using a qwerty keyboard, right?
ThomPete 16y ago
It's not but it's relevant in the perspective that fourspace says further up.
ugh 16y ago
The specific device is irrelevant and so is your question. The headline “Smartphone Films Final Discovery Launch From 30,000 Feet Up” would be just as good but complaining about the additional (albeit irrelevant) information in the real headline seems just strange. The information in the headline that this was taken by a smartphone is certainly valuable – you immediately know that this is not about professional video footage for example from a NASA plane but amateur footage taken from a commercial airliner which is a lot cooler. Does it really annoy you and all the people who upvoted you so much that the writer of the headline (not even the guy who took and published the video) went that small extra step and mentioned the specific model of the device used to capture the video and not just the general category? Why exactly?

fourspace 16y ago

A rocket carrying human beings going to space to live for a few days in zero gravity, viewed from an airplane carrying hundreds of humans 30,000 feet in the air, filmed on a camera that fits into your pocket. Do we need any more proof that human beings are incredible?

aarontait 16y ago
Or that fossil fuels are incredible...
- jonknee 16y ago
  Discovery doesn't use fossil fules. The main engines are powered by oxygen and hydrogen and the solid rocket boosters are made up of ammonium perchlorate, aluminum and iron oxide.
  - aarontait 16y ago
    Hydrogen is a storage medium. Fossil fuels are used as the energy source to make the rocket propellant. I can also guarantee you that fossil fuels were used in the production and distribution of the rocket boosters and that the airplane the video was taken from wouldn't be flying if it didn't have any jet fuel in it's tank. Humans are smart creatures, but we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking we would be where we are at now if it weren't for a cheap, albeit limited, supply of highly concentrated energy.
    - kirubakaran 16y ago
      By that logic, fossil fuel is a storage medium too. Solar energy was used as the energy source to make fossil fuel.
      - aarontait 16y ago
        True, with the difference being humans (and our predecessors) had to wait hundreds of thousands of years for the fossil fuels to form under the immense pressure (and additional energy input) of the earth.

micah_moo 16y ago

Ya I was watching the launch on tv, then stepped outside and you could see it from the other side of Florida, I've seen a launch up in close once, to bad I was really really sick to enjoy it.

jcurbo 16y ago
Yeah, I've seen two launches from Tampa (including the last night launch), and you can see things pretty well. This video blows it away though, I would have loved to be on that plane.
younata 16y ago
I was 30 miles south of the launch. It kinda sucked, I saw the first few seconds (which was amazing), then it disappeared into clouds.

CGamesPlay 16y ago

I don't understand what led the author to believe that this was filmed using an iPhone 4; nor why that has anything to do with the rest of the video.

ajays 16y ago

I am ashamed to admit that I have too much time on my hands today. The same video, with an alternate soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXZrkqKo8NQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXZrkqKo8NQ

softbuilder 16y ago
Nice. Somehow I expected "The Final Countdown" to be playing. What does this mean?