Expert: Steve Nelson - 7/24/2010

Question
Hi Steve
That’s a good explanation. Coming from England i’m not used to seeing rockets unless they’re on the end of a stick on November 5th, but I’m confident that you know your stuff. It would certainly make sense that crowds would gather to see a rocket take off. However, can you just re-assure me that you are not mistaken and that there is not something more unusual in this video, like a bigger version of the object i saw? The problem i’m having with your answer is that there are two occasions when the ground appears in the video and in the first image the object is just above a building, and when the building is seen again the light is far over to the right of it. While i would expect the rocket to move I would still of expected it to of been somewhere straighter?
Sorry to persistant.
Many thanks
David

Answer
Rockets quickly execute a turning maneuver in order to thrust parallel to the ground instead of straight up.  They have to get up to orbital velocity, around 7 km per second, parallel to the Earth's surface and not just straight up.  It takes somewhere around 12 minutes, and that video was only a little over a minute long.  It fits.