The word “awesome” gets bandied about a lot, especially in California.  But this video of the space shuttle launch puts the awesome back in awesomeness.

As Gawker spin-off site i09 notes, NASA has released footage from solid rocket boosters before, but what makes the difference here is the HD quality and, above all, the sound mix.  This is a strong example of just how powerful the right audio can be for a film; it almost creates a whole dramatic arc on its own.

Many thanks to Dame Bea for bringing this to our attention.