.jpg?w=1024)
This scenic panorama of clouds over the Atlantic and Florida and Space Shuttle Challenger launching on the STS 41-B mission was taken on Feb. 3, 1984. On board the shuttle were astronauts Vance D. Brand, Robert L. Gibson, Ronald E. McNair, Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart.
This scenic panorama of billowy clouds over the Atlantic and Florida and the contrasting addition of mankind’s technology into the picture was provided by astronaut John W. Young and a handheld camera in the cockpit of NASA’s Shuttle Training Aircraft (STA). This photograph was taken on Feb. 3, 1984, moments after the 226 tons of spacecraft hardware were lifted off Kennedy Space Center’s (KSC) Launch Pad 39A. Inside the Space Shuttle Challenger (STS 41-B), attached here to its two Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB) and External Fuel Tank (ET), were astronauts Vance D. Brand, Robert L. Gibson, Ronald E. McNair, Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart.
Image Credit: NASA