Hey Ben, that was one of the most impressive things I have ever witnessed. Especially the sonic boom. For those who have never seen a night launch in real life this is how it goes.
When the engines start it looks like the sun. Bear in mind I am 15 miles away. It lights the area up like the sun. The Shuttle climbs so fast it just amazing. Then comes the sonic boom. It sounds like thunder that last 10-15 seconds. Then the shock wave hits. The ground shakes like a earth quake. Your whole body trembles.
The solid rocket boosters burn for about two minutes, and they fall off about 30 miles up. So they get the shuttle about half way there. In addition, they helped the shuttle accelerate from zero to 3,500 MPH in two minutes. So it doesn’t take long to go the next 32 miles. Not only is the shuttle going 3,500, but it is accelerating. It will be traveling at a speed of 17,000 MPH six minutes later.
Let’s ignore the acceleration (this page indicates the shuttle is only going 3,887 MPH at 2:26). At 3,500 MPH, the shuttle is traveling approximately one mile per second. That means it only takes 32 seconds more to reach an altitude of 62 miles. If you want to take acceleration into account, it is a few seconds less.
So it takes approximately 150 seconds for the shuttle to get out of earth’s atmosphere.
WOW!!