Following on from Nasa’s last offering of a full ride on the rocket boosters from launch to splashdown, they have again excelled themselves with the following video of Endeavour’s launch made by compositing images from an array of high speed still cameras :

Imaging experts funded by the Space Shuttle Program and located at NASA’s Ames Research Center prepared this video by merging nearly 20,000 photographs taken by a set of six cameras capturing 250 images per second at the STS-134 launch on May 16, 2011.

The result is a ultra slow motion view of the launch with a slightly hallucinogenic feel as the camera images move from perfect alignment presumably by wind gusts at the launch site.

Full screen mode recommended :

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My favourite launch video though is still the 3000 tonne Saturn 5 setting off with Apollo 11 – amazing visuals and a haunting soundtrack making one very special video.