T O P I C R E V I E W |
heng44 | Lt. Col. Gabriel Green and Capt. Zachary Bartoe patrol over KSC in an F-15E Strike Eagle as the Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on mission STS-132 on May 14, 2010. Colonel Green is the 333rd Fighter Squadron commander and Captain Bartoe is a 333rd FS weapons system officer. Both aircrew members are assigned to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. (U.S. Air Force photo by Capt. John Peltier). Ed Hengeveld |
AstroAutos | Beautiful... |
capoetc | Looks like they scored a "hit" ... that thing sure is smokin'! |
robsouth | Awesome! As you Americans would say. |
Henk Boshuijer | Would be great to have this picture signed by the pilots and the shuttle crew... |
music_space | And who took the picture??? |
Philip | Capt John Peltier (see Ed's photo credits). |
Rob Joyner | After this photo was released I tried to find others that I assumed must have been taken during such an opportunity but could not find even one. Anyone else have better luck or was this actually the only photo taken from the jet? |
Fezman92 | Don't they fly these for security reasons? If they do what do they think is going to happen? I mean it's the space shuttle. Isn't a hard target to hit? |
JPSastro | CAPs... Combat Air Patrols are now flown armed with air to air ordnance. This is in case any aerial threat such as an encroachment by a "wayward" aircraft creates a potential threat to a ground based event or aerial operation. Such are flown at any major sporting events, i.e. Super Bowl, World Series. When Air Force One is in the area (last time Pres. Bush was here two USAF PaveHawk copters circled around my neighborhood prior to Air Force One's arrival over my house and followed it in to Davis Monthan AFB, it was a neat operation to watch). You may have seen the news that CAP missions have had a few intercepts that made the press. We practice scramble (IN FULL after burner) a pair of F-16's on a regular basis here in Tucson. Sorry to say it is a necessary operation, especially in this day and age. |
btguest | The 333d FS is my old squadron! I had already moved on by the time they supported this shuttle launch, but its good to see a red tail again! |
Fezman92 | Okay thanks, I live about an hour from the Ft. Dix area, an hour from Dover AFB and an hour from an Air National Guard/Air Force, Coast Guard base and there is a Chinook maintenance station in the town next to mine so I get stuff over my house all the time. Mainly Chinooks and A-10s... |
Hart Sastrowardoyo | I cover on occasion the Joint Base McGuire-Fort Dix-Lakehurst. Most of the stuff we get flying by are the big transports or the tankers, although it is neat to look up and realize, "Hey! That's an Orion!" |
ilbasso | I find it interesting to look at the shadow of the Shuttle's exhaust trail. When I watch Shuttle launches on TV - and even just looking at the Shuttle's smoke trail by itself in this photo - I get the impression that it is arcing over to a greater extent than it really is. Looking at the shadow of the plume, you can readily tell that the Shuttle is much more going "up" than "over." |