WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

This photograph of the STS-2 crew and the space shuttle Columbia soaring toward Earth orbit was captured with a hand-held 70mm camera (using an 80mm lens) operated from the rear station of a T-38 jet aircraft. Mission specialist-astronaut Kathryn D. Sullivan took the picture, and part of the wing tip of her aircraft can be seen in lower left corner. Astronaut John W. Young piloting NASA?s shuttle training aircraft (STA) was taking pictures from a higher angle. A close look can delineate his craft above the orbiter and supportive elements, almost perpendicular to them from this point of view. Another T-38 jet, with a TV camera operator as back-seat passenger, can be seen at lower left corner near the smoke trails from the shuttle.