Last week we visited Florida from England for a few days. This was a surprise vacation for my fiancee(she didn't know where we were going right up until we were checking in at London Gatwick Airport).
When i booked the trip i noticed there was a SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH whilst we were going to be there.
So i booked two LAUNCH TRANSPORTATION TICKETS through
www.kennedyspacecenter.com. They arrived 2 weeks prior to the launch by UPS and cost me $15 a ticket.
We arrived at Orlando Int. Airport on Wed 7th Mar at 5.00pm, checked in at the Best Western LBV, had a meal at Planet Hollywood DD, then went straight to bed at 11.00pm.
We then got up at 2.00am, i then phoned NASA to check the launch time was still on schedule and then drove over to Kennedy Space center.
At this early time in the morning there wasn't as much traffic as i anticipated so we got there quite early. The launch was set for 6.42am (a couple of minutes after sunrise).
We parked the car at the visitor complex and boarded a coach out to the launch viewing site which is on the causeway about 6 miles from the shuttle. It was amazing the amount of cars, coaches and motorhomes we passed on our way ou there. The whole atmosphere was very eerie, it reminded us of the film - Close Encounters.
Just prior to the launch the moon went down about 90 degrees to my left if the shuttle was dead center. Then the sun came up about 90 degrees to my right. It was a picture perfect day for it.
As the sun came up we could see more and more detail on the shuttle and launch pad.
From the public address system we could hear all systems were go. Then the countdown from 12 seconds began. At about T-4 seconds we could see clouds of smoke filling up around the launch pad, then through the smoke the shuttle appeared with a very bright glow from the burn of its boosters.
It continued to go up at an angle that would put it in to the correct orbit to enable it to dock with the International Space Station. It was now at about 30-40 seconds into the launch. Up until this point there had been no noise, just a trail of smoke, then all of a sudden the thunder of its engines crept up on us to the point were it was very, very loud.
We could then see the 2 booster rockets seperate from the shuttle. We followed it until it was about 75 miles altitude and 110 miles downrange from KSC. At this point it was "in space".
The only evidence of the launch was an unnatural cloud that was left behind from the burn. This lingered in the sky for quite a while.
The whole experience was an absolutley awesome one and we were so lucky to get to witness it. I highly reccomend jump at the chance to see it.
You can also see a shuttle launch at Titusville, which is about 10 miles from the pad.
To check the most up to date launch schedule visit
www.ksc.nasa.gov or call 1-877-893-NASA (6272) for a KSC launch status report.
