Category: Photography

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SpaceX Grasshopper 744m Test

From the spacexchannel on YouTube: “On Monday, October 7th, Grasshopper completed its highest leap to date, rising to 744m altitude. The view above is taken from a single camera hexacopter, getting closer to the stage than in any previous flight.

Grasshopper is a 10-story Vertical Takeoff Vertical Landing (VTVL) vehicle designed to test the technologies needed to return a rocket back to Earth intact. While most rockets are designed to burn up on atmosphere reentry, SpaceX rockets are being designed not only to withstand reentry, but also to return to the launch pad for a vertical landing. The Grasshopper VTVL vehicle represents a critical step towards this goal.

Grasshopper consists of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage tank, Merlin 1D engine, four steel and aluminum landing legs with hydraulic dampers, and a steel support structure”

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Bay Bridge Traffic Jam

San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge’s new East Span Bicycle/Pedestrian Path

I took a bike ride with a couple of thousand bicyclists and pedestrians on September 3, 2013, on the just opened San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge’s new East Span.

The 15.5-foot wide bicycle/pedestrian path on the new Bay Bridge almost goes to Yerba Buena Island, then ends. A section of the old bridge will have to be demolished before the path reaches Yerba Buena Island and Treasure Island.

There is access to the path from the Bay Trail that begins in Emeryville and from Oakland on Maritime Street and the aptly named Burma Road.

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1955 Belgian Grand Prix

This is a 30 minute film from “Shell’s YouTube page: The ‘1955 Belgian Grand Prix’ film commissioned by Shell, tells the story of the 1955 Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix held at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

Nestled in the Ardennes Forest, surrounded by trees and rolling hills, the track was one of the finest and fastest road racing circuits of its era, as well as being one of the most beautiful.

The film follows the progress of the thirteen drivers as they tackle the high-speed circuit, reaching record-breaking average speeds of over 120mph around the 9-mile track.

Shell partnered Ferrari in the inaugural FIA Formula One World Championship in 1950. Since then they have competed in over 500 races together, collecting 12 Drivers’ World Championships and 10 Constructors’ World Championships, achieving one of the longest and most successful partnerships in the history of motorsport.”

via Managing Risk on the High-Stakes Formula One Circuit by John F. Burns/The New York Times