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| The separation of the payload fairing. These are the two white blobs, being somewhat out of focus. |
Then, four minutes after lift-off, an event caught me by surprise. Two tiny white specks separated from the ascending Atlas. In the excitement of the event I called out "staging". But the Atlas 5 is really a souped up Atlas Centaur and separation of the two should not have occurred until the rocket was much higher and so far down range that it would not be visible. This staging would not have left two objects twinkling to either side of the still accelerating vehicle. I took a photo of this.
It was only later, as I though back on what I had seen, that I realised that it had been the separation of the two halves of the clamshell-like payload fairing. This was later confirmed when a TV report later that evening stated that a few sharp eyed people had seen payload fairing separation. Wow, and I have what I consider to be poor eyesight!
Not as spectacular as the STS 131 launch two weeks earlier, the exhaust cloud evolved over the next few minutes before dispersing in the gathering darkness.
Our Air Force media escort patiently, yet efficiently, rounded us up and we drove in convoy out of the space center. Such was his efficiency that he would not allow us to retain our Air Force access badges as souvenirs.
I spent an enjoyable half an hour chatting with him after the other media had driven off.
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Text, images and audio Copyright to Andrew Rennnie, 2010