Shuttle Launch August 9th

[Mickey Rules]

Hi, ok so we're going to Disney in August and will be down for the scheduled launch of Endeavor (STS-118). I have always wanted to see a launch, and really hoping that this launch doesn't get scratched. I have a few questions for anyone thats been to one or knows anything about them. First off, when does NASA post the tickets to see the launch and how much are they? I know that different bus lines go directly from Orlando to NASA for $100 a person. Also, ever since 9/11, NASA no longer allows private vechiles to watch the launches, but I was wondering, if we are unable to get tickets, is there a good viewing point that is on the side of the road not on NASA property that has a close enough view? Is the Astronaut musesum a good viewing spot? I know that you can see it from Disney, because I saw one waaaaaaaay back in the day when my uncle used to live in Oveito. So if you guys have any info, I would appreciate it. THANKS!!!

 

[Mickey Rules]

One follow up question. How much time do you think we should give ourselves to drive over there? I know it takes an hour to get there from Disney, but will there be a lot of traffic? I believe the launch is an 6:10pm or 7:10pm on August 9th. Thanks agian!!

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

Ok first I will say go here http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches/scheduleStatus.asp at the bottom of the page there is a link to Sign up for Launch updates. Closer to the launch date, they will email you all the information you are looking for. You will get an email that tells you when the tickets will be on sale, how much they are, etc. etc... we have been out for 4 launches so far and always use the "armchair astronaut" emails to plan them out.

Ok, the BEST place to see a launch in my opinion is from the NASA Causeway. With this package you get all day access to the Visitors Complex and then they bus you over to the causeway for the launch. On the causeway they have covered seating areas (even though they will tell you they do not...it encourages people to bring their own chairs, which many do), vendor and they have live feed to Mission Control. With this package they will tell you what time you have to be at the Visitor Complex (which is usually VERY early...) they do this to stagger the entrance so the traffic does not back up. I think we paid something like $50 or so per person for this.

They also offer viewing from the Visitor Complex, which is also very good, but you can't see the shuttle until it has cleared the tree line (unlike the causeway where you can see it on the launch pad). I am not sure the cost of that, but it is less than the causeway. They have the viewing from the Hall of Fame, which I have never personally done, but I have friends that will "never do it again", and that was good enough for me.

As far as places to go that are not on NASA property. The best place is Spaceview park. http://www.nbbd.com/godo/spaceviewpark/index.html I have not personally been here either, but many DISer's have and rave about it. You can see the launch pads from here too, although further away than being at NASA. The parking is free, there is no admission fee and they have a nice park, memorials, restrooms, etc (they also have live feed to Mission Control). Jetty park is another place to see a launch from, given the option I would go to Spaceview park over Jetty Park, but it is another place to think of. We saw a launch from Jetty before and it was impressive because we had never been that close but now that we have been on the NASA causeway we know better. Here is a link to the locations that NASA suggests if you are not able to get tickets for their viewing areas.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view/view_shuttle.html

Also look at this page it is a fellow DISer's page BPCooper he is a wealth of Shuttle knowledge if you have more questions... http://www.launchphotography.com/Shuttle_Launch_Viewing.html

It takes about 45 minutes to get out to the Cape so I would give yourself about 2 hours (unless you get the NASA tickets and then they will tell you when to be there). The traffic going out is not usually too bad until right around launch time... but be prepared to have up to 4 hours on the ride home (it took us 4 hours to come back from Discovery).

And one more link for you... http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1459936 this is a thread about viewing the latest launch. It has some good info too!

Here is a photo montage that my husband put together of some of the photos we took from the NASA causeway... Enjoy, have fun... it is an AMAZING experience! Hubby has a good camera so this is closer than the naked eye, you are about 6 miles away, so you can see the shuttle on the pad, it is just not "this" defined... just FYI!

 

[keishashadow]

good luck, hope you DO get to see it

we scheduled our trip end of month w/a week's window to see the shuttle that was originally scheduled to launch. Unfortunately, we all know the last one was delayed & is having computer problems now ...bring them back safe & sound! Hope the rocket launch on the 30th is still on?nope, just checked thanx to above link, delayed to 7/07/07 - interesting date

we thought jetty park was just fine to watch a rocket launch last year (course we didn't have anything to compare it to lol). We were surprised about how any 'lil bit of sand over the intercoastal waterway before port canaveral was jammed w/parked cars. Can't imagine the chaos on a shuttle launch.

 

[Mickey Rules]

Ok first I will say go here http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches/scheduleStatus.asp at the bottom of the page there is a link to Sign up for Launch updates. Closer to the launch date, they will email you all the information you are looking for. You will get an email that tells you when the tickets will be on sale, how much they are, etc. etc... we have been out for 4 launches so far and always use the "armchair astronaut" emails to plan them out.

Ok, the BEST place to see a launch in my opinion is from the NASA Causeway. With this package you get all day access to the Visitors Complex and then they bus you over to the causeway for the launch. On the causeway they have covered seating areas (even though they will tell you they do not...it encourages people to bring their own chairs, which many do), vendor and they have live feed to Mission Control. With this package they will tell you what time you have to be at the Visitor Complex (which is usually VERY early...) they do this to stagger the entrance so the traffic does not back up. I think we paid something like $50 or so per person for this.

They also offer viewing from the Visitor Complex, which is also very good, but you can't see the shuttle until it has cleared the tree line (unlike the causeway where you can see it on the launch pad). I am not sure the cost of that, but it is less than the causeway. They have the viewing from the Hall of Fame, which I have never personally done, but I have friends that will "never do it again", and that was good enough for me.

As far as places to go that are not on NASA property. The best place is Spaceview park. http://www.nbbd.com/godo/spaceviewpark/index.html I have not personally been here either, but many DISer's have and rave about it. You can see the launch pads from here too, although further away than being at NASA. The parking is free, there is no admission fee and they have a nice park, memorials, restrooms, etc (they also have live feed to Mission Control). Jetty park is another place to see a launch from, given the option I would go to Spaceview park over Jetty Park, but it is another place to think of. We saw a launch from Jetty before and it was impressive because we had never been that close but now that we have been on the NASA causeway we know better. Here is a link to the locations that NASA suggests if you are not able to get tickets for their viewing areas.
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view/view_shuttle.html

Also look at this page it is a fellow DISer's page BPCooper he is a wealth of Shuttle knowledge if you have more questions... http://www.launchphotography.com/Shuttle_Launch_Viewing.html

It takes about 45 minutes to get out to the Cape so I would give yourself about 2 hours (unless you get the NASA tickets and then they will tell you when to be there). The traffic going out is not usually too bad until right around launch time... but be prepared to have up to 4 hours on the ride home (it took us 4 hours to come back from Discovery).

And one more link for you... http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1459936 this is a thread about viewing the latest launch. It has some good info too!

Here is a photo montage that my husband put together of some of the photos we took from the NASA causeway... Enjoy, have fun... it is an AMAZING experience! Hubby has a good camera so this is closer than the naked eye, you are about 6 miles away, so you can see the shuttle on the pad, it is just not "this" defined... just FYI!

WOW!!! THANKS A LOT FOR THIS!!! I signed up for the e-mails when I first heard about the launch, so I'm hoping for some more info from them. I originally thought that we would see it from the viewing center, but we now think we will do the causeway. I'm just curious about something...is the viewing center closer than the causeway? because I was looking at a map and there is one closer to the pad, 39B i believe, and how high is it when it goes over the trees. I would like to see the launch from the very beginning, so I would probablly go with the causeway, I'm just curious though. THANKS AGAIN!!!! !!!

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

WOW!!! THANKS A LOT FOR THIS!!! I signed up for the e-mails when I first heard about the launch, so I'm hoping for some more info from them. I originally thought that we would see it from the viewing center, but we now think we will do the causeway. I'm just curious about something...is the viewing center closer than the causeway? because I was looking at a map and there is one closer to the pad, 39B i believe, and how high is it when it goes over the trees. I would like to see the launch from the very beginning, so I would probablly go with the causeway, I'm just curious though. THANKS AGAIN!!!! !!!

The causeway is the closest you can get on Launch day... there are other places like the Saturn V complex that are closer but you can not access them on launch day, a lot of the area becomes restricted (you also can not get to the coutdown clock that you always see, this is VIP and media). The Visitor Complex is about 11 or 12 miles from the launch site, where the section of the causeway they take you to is about 6 miles. And you will actually be closer than I was because Atlantis was launched from the other pad. From the causeway you will be able to see the shuttle sitting on the launch pad and the entire liftoff from begining to out of site. At the Visitor Complex it is still a great experience, but you can not see the pad, you will not be able to see the shuttle sitting out there, it will be about 20 seconds after launch that you will see it from the complex, it will be off the launch pad and clearing the tree line before you can see it. I would highly suggest getting the causeway tickets if you can you won't be disappointed (unless it scrubbs of course...). You have to be online or on the phone AS SOON AS they go on sale in order to get them. We were online refreshing the screen every couple of seconds when we got ours... the causeway tickets sold out in less than 5 minutes... Spaceview park is a good option to if you want free with a view. You can see the shuttle on the pad from there as well, it is further away than being ON the causeway, but still gets rave reviews for a place to watch from.

 

[Mickey Rules]

The causeway is the closest you can get on Launch day... there are other places like the Saturn V complex that are closer but you can not access them on launch day, a lot of the area becomes restricted (you also can not get to the coutdown clock that you always see, this is VIP and media). The Visitor Complex is about 11 or 12 miles from the launch site, where the section of the causeway they take you to is about 6 miles. And you will actually be closer than I was because Atlantis was launched from the other pad. From the causeway you will be able to see the shuttle sitting on the launch pad and the entire liftoff from begining to out of site. At the Visitor Complex it is still a great experience, but you can not see the pad, you will not be able to see the shuttle sitting out there, it will be about 20 seconds after launch that you will see it from the complex, it will be off the launch pad and clearing the tree line before you can see it. I would highly suggest getting the causeway tickets if you can you won't be disappointed (unless it scrubbs of course...). You have to be online or on the phone AS SOON AS they go on sale in order to get them. We were online refreshing the screen every couple of seconds when we got ours... the causeway tickets sold out in less than 5 minutes... Spaceview park is a good option to if you want free with a view. You can see the shuttle on the pad from there as well, it is further away than being ON the causeway, but still gets rave reviews for a place to watch from.

Ok, Thanks agian!! So NASA will send me an email when the tickets become available, right?

 

[Mickey Rules]

I hagte to ask this too because I am very superstitious about this stuff, but what happens if the launch gets scrubbed? I know that NASA has a VERY VERY limited refund policy, so I was just wondering what would happen if we buy the tickets and they scrubb the launch for a time that we are not down there? Also, say we get into the Visitors Center (I believe that is included with the tickets), and then they scratch the launch the same day. Would we be refunded some or all of our money? Thanks.

 

[BPCooper]

This will give you everything you need:

http://www.launchphotography.com/Shuttle_Launch_Viewing.html

It is not actually NASA that sells the close-up causeway tickets but the KSC visitors complex company (Delaware North). If you don't get those, Titusville is the place.

But the causeway is the best viewing by far for the public, and the closest at 6.5 miles (up to about 7 or a little over if you are too far towards the eastern side of the causeway but most people go to the west side). The Visitors Complex itself is 7.4 miles and you cannot see the shuttle. The $51 for the causeway is well worth it, even if it's scrubbed and you must purchase it again, frankly. If you want the best view and the loudest sound, that's the place to go.

Good luck. If you have any questions just ask or email. I'm happy to help.

PS if you are in town for the Delta 2 July 7, Jetty Park is the place for Delta 2s:
http://www.launchphotography.com/Delta_2_Launch_Viewing.html

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

Hey Ben... I knew you would find this sooner or later Mickey Rules... Ben is the one to ask, he knows A LOT about the launches!



The email about the tickets going on sale goes out a few weeks ahead of time, so you will have plenty of notice on that. They do not send it out day prior or anything like that. I want to say it is a week or two in advance...we just mark the calendar and make sure someone is home (or accessible at work) to get them...

As for the tickets in the event of a scrub... Let me see if I can write this out so that it makes sense to you. There are a couple scenarios which all have different rules...

Your tickets are for the launch of that mission not the date persay.

Not sure how a refund works if they scrub in advance and you can not come back for the new date! But I do know about the other scenarios as we have experienced them first hand.

If you are already at the visitors complex but have not taken the bus over to the causeway and they scrub, you can come back for the next attempt, your visitor complex and causeway tickets are still valid for the next launch attempt... If you can not make it back, your visitor complex ticket has been used but you can get a refund on the bus portion (at least they were doing that when we were there).

If you are already over on the causeway and the launch gets scrubbed you do not get a refund onthe causeway portion of the ticket as they consider it used. If you can make it back for the next attempt you can use your Visitor Complex ticket again (as I said your visitor complex ticket is for the mission not the date) it is valid for any attempt of that mission but you will then be watching the launch from the visitors complex as your bus ticket to the causeway is considered used. However in this scenario, if you can come back for the next attempt, you can exchange your bus ticket for an additional fee (I beleive it was $20 per ticket when we had to do it) to get another bus ticket for the next attempt... So the visitor complex portion of the ticket is good for every attempt that they make to launch that mission regardless of how many times you have to go out there.... it is just the bus portion that has restrictions and is non-refundable in this scenario.

The Visitor Complex ticket also gives you access to the visitor complex the day before or the day after the launch so you can see the things that are restricted access on launch day (I suggest if you are going to use that go the day before so you can see the shuttle on the launch pad)... and you have access to the Hall of Fame the day before or the day after. In all honesty even with a scrub it is worth it because you do have access to 2 days at the Space Center and the Hall of Fame!

We have been there when it was scrubbed at the very last minute, so we lost the bus portion of the ticket twice. We were able to go back so we paid the extra $20 and bought the new ticket to go out again!

Something to keep in mind though is to eat lunch early if you go... It is not like a normal day at the space center, everyone there is there for the same reason, they are all on the same time schedule so lunch time is crazy at the restaurants/ counter service. If you plan to eat a meal while you are there, do it at an off time or you could be waiting a very long time (and a side note, the line for the counter service stretches out the door and around the building, this is for hot food from the grills, but people don't realize that and they wait in it... if you just want a salad or a sandwhich, they are premaid and served like a cafeteria on the merry go round thing, so you can walk right in and get those...saves a lot of time if you know about it)

 

[BPCooper]

Keep in mind that they will go on sale at 9am on a certain day (usually Monday) and they are gone in minutes. So be prepared.

Are you sure about the refund part? You should probably ask them before purchasing. But if you have received a refund, then that answers that

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

Keep in mind that they will go on sale at 9am on a certain day (usually Monday) and they are gone in minutes. So be prepared.

Are you sure about the refund part? You should probably ask them before purchasing. But if you have received a refund, then that answers that

Definetly get online early and keep refreshing until they are onsale. Causeway tickets sold out in 5 minutes the first time we bought them.

As far as the refund, we were told no no no... but when it came to the day they did but we were given the information on how to go about it in secrecy, like they were offering it, but don't make a big deal about it. So I guess it is on a case by case basis for an actual monetary refund.

Not that this is a "refund" but...I know for sure that if you have not taken the bus over to the causeway and they scrub your ticket is still fully intact for the next attempt (but this is very rare to happen as the last bus to the causeway leaves the visitor complex about 2 hours before the launch...and scrubs day of are much closer to the launch time)... And that the visitor complex portion is valid for any attempt of that mission regardless of how many tries there are.

I would call in advance of the tickets going on sale and talk to someone there for the policies on refunds if it scrubs in advance and you can not make it back for the new date. Get all the information you can and then decide whether or not you want to pay the money to go out to KSC. It is worth it, if you get to see the launch, but Spaceview park/ Titusville is free and still very impressive with no worries!

 

[Mickey Rules]

WOW!! You guys are great!!! THANKS A LOT!! I really appreciate it. Just to clarify agian, they will send me an e-mail telling me what time and date they will go on sale. It's not like they will send it and say that they are currently on sale...kinda redundant but not really lol...THANKS AGAIN!!

 

[CDSTapisRouge]

WOW!! You guys are great!!! THANKS A LOT!! I really appreciate it. Just to clarify agian, they will send me an e-mail telling me what time and date they will go on sale. It's not like they will send it and say that they are currently on sale...kinda redundant but not really lol...THANKS AGAIN!!

Don't worry, it is a pre-sale email... It will say they are going on sale on such and such a date at such and such a time... Mark your calender. You will know in advance so you can plan... I really hope that you get to see the launch. You are getting me excited for it (not that I wouldn't be anyway, just not usually this early in the game).

 

[Mickey Rules]

Don't worry, it is a pre-sale email... It will say they are going on sale on such and such a date at such and such a time... Mark your calender. You will know in advance so you can plan... I really hope that you get to see the launch. You are getting me excited for it (not that I wouldn't be anyway, just not usually this early in the game).

I tend to do that to people lol...This is something that I and my parents have always wanted to see and have never had the opportunity to do so (other that once looking in the sky and seeing an orange streak at my uncles house). We have always missed out by at least a month or two which isn't that long of time for launches if you think about it. So I got really excited when I wandered around the NASA website and saw an August 9th launch. Thanks again for the info...I CAN'T WAIT!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

[BPCooper]

This is where to sign up to get the email reminders on when it is on sale:

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/eventSignUp.asp

Bookmark all these sites to follow the launch and updates:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

And the NASA schedule (listing NASA launches only, not other non-NASA launches, which SpaceflightNow is best for):
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

 

[Mickey Rules]

This is where to sign up to get the email reminders on when it is on sale:

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/eventSignUp.asp

Bookmark all these sites to follow the launch and updates:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/current.html
http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/currentglance.html

And the NASA schedule (listing NASA launches only, not other non-NASA launches, which SpaceflightNow is best for):
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html

Great sites...THANKS!!

 

[BPCooper]

They are looking to move the launch up (yes up) to August 7 so keep an eye out.

 

[Bowen9475]

A related question - If we are staying at BWV and would like to head to Spaceview Park to view the launch, what time should we plan to leave the hotel? Thank you!

 

[BPCooper]

If the launch is the 7th it's about 7pm; if its the 9th its 610pm.

I would leave three hours before launch at the latest. People at 117 reported it took them two hours or more to get to Titusville from Orlando with all the traffic. Plus Spaceview Park fills up to the brink, so if you want a good spot I would go even earlier.