Vincent D. DeSimone wrote:
I just realized that the video of the launch seems to have been taken by
someone with a hand-held video camera from about 1000' away. How nuts is
that!


Oh, they get close to those things when they take off.
I've seen photos taken right from the "dragon's teeth" used to break up
the rocket if it starts skidding toward the blockhouse.
Most of the time if it malfunctions it falls into the blast pit under
the pad.
On the Foton M-1 launch though, which was filmed by some western
visitors, it went up into the clouds at night....and came right back
down out of the clouds to blow up nearby:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9u-h_btBo
You note that right after liftoff a large cloud of something (LOX?)
emerges from under the rocket, so it was malfunctioning pretty much
right from the start.

Pat