Behind the photo: Vega-C inaugural liftoff
As head of ESA’s photo service, Stephane Corvaja’s job is to share the wonder – and awesome power – of spaceflight. Here, he reveals how he captured this image of VV21, the inaugural flight of the new Vega-C rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
My philosophy is to take launch pictures that show how powerful the rocket is, and how liftoff is hard and brutal. So I’m looking for a very close view of the launcher, and if it’s possible I want the picture to show the entire ESA logo.
For every launch I search for the best point to install the remote camera, and the configuration of the Vega launch pad gave me the opportunity to get very close without putting the camera in too much danger. With authorization from the safety team I used a secure clamp to install the camera in a home-made protective case, to save it from being destroyed by hot gas and noise.
For flight VV21 there was a two-hour launch window – not an exact launch time, which is the case for some launches – so the only way to activate the camera was with an external sound trigger that would respond when the engine started. I set up the camera the day before the launch, and because of the bad weather it wasn’t so easy to make final settings.
Because it was very close, the lens protector didn’t survive the launch and the case suffered severe damage – but the camera body and lens were completely saved.
Unfortunately, before the launch the rain was intense, and we see this in the final result. But bad weather its part of space launch images – we are completely dependent on natural conditions.
Stephane Corvaja
