The smoke plume is characteristic of SRBs, which have a very good thrust-to-mass ration but relatively low specific impulses. If you've ever seen a Shuttle lau

The smoke plume is characteristic of SRBs, which have a very good thrust-to-mass ration but relatively low specific impulses. If you've ever seen a Shuttle launch, the long and smoky plume and the rocket "leaping off the pad" will look very familiar.