Space Shuttle Launch

We are go for lift off!

Really the most incredible thing I've ever seen. To see a launch is to never forget it.

The causeway at Kennedy Space Center is a road built up through a swamp/stream. It's maybe fifty feet wide, so there's not much room and it is absolutely packed with people, buses, cars, tents, places to get food. Lots of stuff, so it gets crowded pretty fast. But, everyone is in a great mood. We're there to see the launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, carrying the Kibo lab to the International Space Station.

We were six miles away from the launch pad and from that distance the shuttle is about an inch tall. It was a beautiful, clear day with only a few clouds in the sky. There were no technical difficulties at all. Anticipation is pretty high all around us as the countdown gets closer and closer to 10, 9, 8....

There's a small spark you see at that distance when the engines ignite, followed by a giant plume of smoke, billowing out around the shuttle just like you see on tv. And then the space craft is off the launch pad, ahead of the billowing smoke, shooting out over the ocean like a bullet. It's very fast, which isn't conveyed from watching on tv, because the tv cameras follow the shuttle all the way up now. But when you are there in person, the first thing that strikes you is how fast this massive ship is moving up into the sky.

The next thing that strikes you, literally almost, is the sound. At first, for several seconds anyway, there is absolute silence except for the cheering of the crowd around you. You can hear the loud speakers above that noise easily, detailing what the shuttle is doing, rolling, giving the altitude and speed and then...the sound rolls at you, building around you until you are completely enveloped in this roar of noise that goes inside your body and gives you a really great rattle. You think, damn, that's loud! and you laugh. It is a sound of immense power, pounding through you. It is awesome.

And then, it's gone. The sound rolls away and the shuttle has departed this earth. In two minutes, it's gone and all that's left is a large, strangely stationary column of smoke that lingers for quite some time. Really, it takes about 8 minutes for the space shuttle to reach outerspace, but there in person, watching a launch, it is gone in an extraordinarily short amount of time.

People start to mill around and talk about how awesome it was, and then you get back on your bus, or in your car and you wait until traffic clears enough to get off the causeway. You sit in traffic for hours then, traveling back to Orlando, moving slowly away from the most amazing thing you've ever witnessed. I highly recommend it.