Sea Launch rocket platform in Honolulu

[bakubo]

This morning I was walking along Diamond Head Road and out in the ocean I saw a huge floating platform heading towards Honolulu. It looked sort of like one of those big oil drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and other places. I didn't have a camera with me since I was out for some exercise.

Later in the day my wife and I were in downtown Honolulu and decided to walk to Honolulu Harbor and the Aloha Tower since it was only 5 minutes away. We turned a corner and could look down towards the harbor and there was a massive "thing" there in the harbor. Of course, I recognized it as the "thing" I had seen sailing by earlier in the day.

It is the Sea Launch rocket launch platform:

http://www.sea-launch.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Launch

All I had with me is my old Canon A590IS digicam in my pocket, but here are a few photos of it.

View from the top of Aloha Tower:

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[bakubo]

David, I put this in the wrong forum. Probably Off Topic is better. Whenever I want to post photos I go on autopilot and go to the Give it Your Best Shot forum, but I didn't mean for these to be examples of good photos. Only something interesting I saw today. You can move this thread, if you want.

[Birma]

Wow it looks and sounds like something from Thunderbirds. Very interesting pictures Henry. (I can live with this in the Give It Your Best Shot forum as from a reportage point of view they are great shots. They are not too shabby from pure photo view either .)

[aster]

Impressive!

Hi Henry, : )

In my humble way of thinking, you've given it your best shot within the time frame with no prior notice of the 'thing' passing, so it fits in the forum just fine. : ))

The 'machine' is so clean and efficient-looking. I like these shots that give away many fine details of the platform. I also see that you have many differrent angles of view; one from almost-beneath, one from the top of a building looking down (?), and others from a distance giving it a true perspective and a relevance to the structures around it.

How did you manage to get so many different angles that appear to be a quite a distance's walk away from each other?

I remember my own big-machine-passing experience of a giant, peeled-paint and corrosion inflicted oil drilling platform right under the Bosphorus Bridge and that was impressive also. But your platform is very new and glistening in the sunlight. Nice!

Thanks for sharing,
Yildiz

[Greg Beetham]

That’s an exciting find Henry, a large marine rocket launch pad…I want one ha ha. Good shots btw.
Greg
Ps. I wonder where the crew hide? Because I saw on a TV show that you can’t survive a shuttle launch if you are closer than 1.5Km, the force of the sound volume will kill, or so they said.

[Dr. Harout]

Hmmm, so this is the SL rlp...

[bakubo]

How did you manage to get so many different angles that appear to be a quite a distance's walk away from each other?

For the first photo I went to the top of Aloha Tower to get a view from a high angle. By the way, you can see the Aloha Tower in the last photo -- it is partially obscured by the left side of the platform superstructure. I then just walked along the road next to the harbor to take a few shots at different angles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aloha_Tower

Here is a photo of the Aloha Tower looking up:

[bakubo]

Hmmm, so this is the SL rlp...

Yes, IITSLRLP. And IIRRRB!!!

ISTSLRLP: It is the Sea Launch rocket launch pad
IIRRRB: It is really, really, really big

[bakubo]

Ps. I wonder where the crew hide? Because I saw on a TV show that you can’t survive a shuttle launch if you are closer than 1.5Km, the force of the sound volume will kill, or so they said.

Hmm, I don't know. Maybe their website has info. They may just get off and sit on a companion ship during the actual launch of a rocket.

[stevecim]

yes they do, there is a second ship (normal looking) that is holds their "mission control" .

[bakubo]

yes they do, there is a second ship (normal looking) that is holds their "mission control" .

Yes, I read something a few days ago that talked about how there is a commander ship that has the mission control for the launch.

[Juanito200]

Oooooh that positively reeks of awesomeness! I'd love to see that in action!

[bakubo]

Oooooh that positively reeks of awesomeness! I'd love to see that in action!

Yeah, me too! I recall that when I was an elementary school student in Florida we would go out in the playground when there was a Gemini launch from Cape Kennedy so we could watch it.

[johnstra]

Thanks for showing us this. I love real engineering. The amazing thing is that this thing is seaworthy. The biggest catamaran inn the world? It must have been an exciting find.

Regards,

Bob

[sury]

I wish I could see the sea launch launch a rocket.... Great set....