NASA Photo ID: STS055(S)055       File Name: 10073167.gif 
 
Film Type: 70mm CN                Date Taken: 05/06/93 
 
Title: STS-55 Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, lifts off from KSC LC Pad 39A 
 
Description: 
 
STS-55 Columbia, Orbiter Vehicle (OV) 102, lifts off from Kennedy Space  
Center (KSC) Launch Complex (LC) Pad 39A at 10:50 am (Eastern Daylight Time  
(EDT)).  OV-102, atop its external tank (ET) and flanked by two solid 
rocket  boosters (SRBs), has only moments earlier begun its ascent.  
Leaving the  mobile launcher platform below in a cloud of exhaust smoke, 
OV-102 rises  along side the fixed service structure (FSS) tower into the 
sky.  An exhaust  cloud fills the surrounding area.  The glow of the SRB 
and space shuttle main  engine (SSME) firings is reflected in a waterway in 
the foreground.