A spectacular, never-before-seen view
of the Space Shuttle and Earth from a color video
camera mounted to the top of Atlantis' Rocket Booster.
At the time of separation the Space Shuttle is traveling just under
3,000mph. From there on the SRBs (Solid Rocket Boosters) continue
upwards for a while, then go into freefall at about 70 miles above
the Earth. They are at 300mph when the chutes deploy, then slow to
around 50mph before impact. SRBs are reusable. Video courtesy
of NASA