Ascent – Commemorating Shuttle is a new video from the NASA Glenn Research Center, and shows off incredible, slow motion footage from launching the Space Shuttle. This is possibly the most interesting collection of launch footage I’ve seen yet. Most of the footage is captured from “engineering cameras”, which site at strategic points on and around the launch pad, to capture extremely detailed, high framerate, high resolution footage of every aspect of launch. Usually, this footage is simply used to inspect for any launch issues, but in this video it’s used by Matt Melis to explain every detail of launch, in stunning slow motion.

Description from YouTube page:

Photographic documentation of a Space Shuttle launch plays a critical role in the engineering analysis and evaluation process that takes place during each and every mission. Motion and Still images enable Shuttle engineers to visually identify off-nominal events and conditions requiring corrective action to ensure mission safety and success. This imagery also provides highly inspirational and educational insight to those outside the NASA family.

This compilation of film and video presents the best of the best ground-based Shuttle motion imagery from STS-114, STS-117, and STS-124 missions. Rendered in the highest definition possible, this production is a tribute to the dozens of men and women of the Shuttle imaging team and the 30yrs of achievement of the Space Shuttle Program.

The video was produced by Matt Melis at the Glenn Research Center.

Watch in HD on YouTube, full screen for best effect.