NASA Photo ID: STS053(S)054       File Name: 10065388.gif 
 
Film Type: 120 CN                 Date Taken: 12/09/92 
 
Title: STS-53 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, lifts off from KSC LC Pad 39A 
 
Description: 
 
STS-53 Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 103, rises above Kennedy Space 
Center  (KSC) Launch Complex (LC) Pad 39A after liftoff at 8:24:00 am 
(Eastern  Standard Time (EST)).  This distance view of the launch sequence 
was taken  from the top of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and looks 
across the  Florida wetlands to the launch pad with the Atlantic Ocean in 
the background.  The launch pad area is covered with an exhaust cloud.  The 
glow of the solid  rocket booster (SRB) and space shuttle main engine 
(SSME) firings lights up  the fixed service structure (FSS) and the 
retracted rotating service  structure (RSS) in the foreground and the sound 
supression water system tank  in the background.