Actual Real Sound of a Space Shuttle Launch STS-135 Atlantis - The Last One

Put on headphones, select 720p or better, and turn up the volume. It starts low but hang on as the roar of Space Shuttle Altantis comes in around :20 in. This is audio captured by a Zoom recorder from the Kennedy Space Center press site (approximately 3 miles from the launch pad). This was the final launch of the program, you can hear two reporters giving play by play next to my recorder. Video is a mix of my footage and NASA's.

[kenpalmer]

This is an era of our history that I will never forget and will cherish forever!

[matth]

Is it me or am I the only one that gets shivers down my spine with awe and cant stop smiling?

[scottcrabtree]

Such a huge vehicle, going straight up, and it breaks the sound barrier very quickly...! Quite amazing!

[tailhookmd]

I love the woman at the end. "I'm almost gonna cry." How could you not have cried?

[RobbYarber]

Just imagine the sound the SLS will make! 4 space shuttle engines plus the solid rockets. She's gonna be a monster!

[BackCountryBrdr]

Oh My God.... Thank you for posting this. Wow.

[lastschicker]

Thanks for this. I was staying at Disney in March 89 and didn't know there was a launch due. I heard the roar clearly in Orlando and looked to see the lift off. Brilliant sight and sound.

[brianco]

I was there... it was the most awesome thing I have ever experienced. So sad the program is no longer....

[danshippee]

If you look closely during liftoff and just to the right of the launch tower, you can see the sound waves being generated by the SRB's. My God, imagine the noise!

[AstroMedia]

It's even more incredible in person, as the shockwaves barrell over you and shake you to your core. Nothing like it.

[CGDubz]

"I think I'm gonna cry!"


Same, girl. Same.

[chriswright]

"Ending an era of 50 years of human manned spaceflight" Try again buddy, this is just the beginning, with or without NASA and the government

[mivobd]

0:08 you can see the effect of the extreme pressure waves from the sound affecting the cloud right next to the rocket, similar to the effect of the "clouds" around a jet as it hits the sound barrier.

[AstroMedia]

KSC was their only launch site and the program is over. This was not only the last shuttle launch from Kennedy, but the last shuttle launch ever. Next manned vehicle to launch from here will be the Space Launch System (SLS) and that will occur around 2020 or so (2019 at the earliest).

[ryanjones]

I just got Bose speakers for my computer. The launch sound sounds just like in person. My ears are ringing but its worth it to listen to those main engines start!.

[Willysmb]

Great video. I went down there to see a launch on 3 occasions. They got scrubbed each time, one at T-19 seconds. I lived in Florida for almost 30 years and only ever saw one from about 150 miles away, STS-33, when I was in my late teens. Never got to see one this close.

[Aviation_Videos]

That is one awesome sound wish I was their to see and hear this amazing machine

[timflynn]

Watched 57 launch's of Space Shuttles. Watched the first one from Angel City FL over the Banana river across from Cocoa Beach. Watched Challenger explode. One of the saddest days ever. Watched around 20 of the launchs from a bar called Sailors Choice on North side of Port Canaveral. I was a Commercial Clammer in Brevard county thru out the 80's. Watched lots of launchs from the Indian River from just west of VAB building while out clamming. Another sad day was watching the 7 Hearses go by Sailors Choice bar with the Astronauts killed in Challenger. God Bless them.

[PatrickGSR]

My wife and I were lucky to experience this launch in person, the only one I ever got to see myself. I was born in 1980, right in the early days of the shuttle program. I was sad that I never got to see any previous launches. Unfortunately the closest we were able to get was the front lawn of KSC, which meant we couldn't actually see the shuttle leave the pad. We got a glimpse about 20 seconds into the flight after it cleared the tree line. I was just glad they went on with the launch even with the thin cloud cover. It rained a ton the night before, and were afraid we wouldn't get to see it.

Now Atlantis sits in a museum at KSC, and I can't wait to take my son there to see it.

[redtail.]

The crazy thing is, 20secs later, its already almost at the speed of sound