It WORKED!! BLT-23 went up past 89,879 feet! The photo was taken from the ground through a telesope by Randy KA5IIA - just after BLT-23 climbed above 82,000 feet. Good Job Randy! More telescope photos are coming soon...
The color video from BLT-23 was SUPERB! The 900 mW, 1255 MHz, FM ATV transmitter operated without a glitch. Tom K5SAF had the ground recording system fully optimized for the best possible operation. Tom did a few preliminary screen captures from the ATV downlink at various random altitudes starting with this one shortly after liftoff. Nice Job Tom!
Getting some cloud shots above the Wharton Intergalactic Spaceport!
This shot is just above the first layer of clouds. The sky is getting CLEAR!
This may not be peak altitude, but it looks GREAT! We are expecting an exceptional DVD of stills, caps and video from BLT-23. Although the new digital camera was set to take a photo every 15 seconds, it spent a lot of the flight "sleeping" due to an intermittant connection in the timer circuit. The pictures that it DID capture however, are the best ever - Thanks to Pete KD5ELH! More Later...
Launch Happened at 10:08 AM on August 25, 2007 from the Wharton Intergalactic Spaceport. We Were There!!!