ozstamps

Margaret and I hope to do that shortly for the December 7 launch of "Discovery" :

http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/STS116/index.asp

Have a hotel in Cocoa Beach booked - man the hotels are near fully booked in that area - many have been 100% booked for weeks.

Anyone ever been there for one?

How much of it do you see, and how loud is it?

Glen

tkey75

Hehe. Fancy meeting you here!

From the beach at my home, you will not see the initial ignition (that view comes at a great price), but you will see it immediately after it leaves the launch pad. You hardly miss it, though because by the time the sound travels to you, you can see it. It will only be a couple miles away at that point so you will be able to see good detail. It's traveling quick, so it will soon become just a big fireball as it shoots out over the Atlantic. That lasts for a good couple of minutes until the SRB separation. It pretty much disappears at that point as it is then about 17,000 miles away.

As for the noise, you will still be hearing it the next day. You feel it as much as you hear it. Things have fallen off shelves in my home. It's exciting.

scoow

Traveller posted a link to photos of a launch in September. Your view may vary, but I suspect it will look a lot like this. And, I doubt your noise cancelling headphones will block all the noise.

rje

A night launch is an absolutely spectacular event. You'll talk about it for years!

Traveller

Glen will be a few miles closer to the launch so the shuttle, contrail, etc. will appear bigger than in my pictures. And it's an evening launch... these are just spectacular.

One of the most beautiful launches I saw was a pre-dawn launch when I was living on the west side of Orlando, in the spring of 2002. Looking at the Nasa archives, it had to be a Columbia launch in March 2002. RIP Columbia. Even though I was 60 miles away from KSC, it was still spectacular.

I hope Nasa keeps to this schedule for you, maybe I'll see if I can work at my client that week M-W so I can see the launch. ^

tkey75

Traveller, it wouldn't be a party without you.

BTW, if ANYONE is interested, I am hosting a lunch party at my home that evening, provided the launch goes as scheduled (ya never know until the last - literally, seconds). Please just RSVP so I know how to plan.

See this thread

Traveller

Shuttle viewing sites.

Spectacular pictures.

WHBM

It's one of the spectacles of life. And you don't have to stay on Cocoa Beach; the hotels of Orlando are about an hour's drive away, and the traffic/parking is not a problem. Everyone just parks on the grass.

My preferred place is in Titusville (in front of the K-Mart which is slightly elevated), about 7 miles away and in clear view of the pads. Haven't seen one go up for a few years now (last was STS-92). That was delayed twice, third time lucky.

From there it's no noise for about 10-15 seconds, then you hear it all very nice. No it is not deafening. In fact you don't really realise it is lifting off at first. It's neat if it passes through a cloud, which all lights up orange.

A straightforward 70mm zoom on my camera has given great shots for about 5 minutes. You see naked-eye the separation and the boosters falling away. This always looks real slow motion, the two points of light from the boosters gradually moving away from the shuttle.

I don't really think it's 17,000 miles away at separation as the boosters are recovered from about 100 miles offshore !

Justme123456

I saw the first one on April 12, 1981. I was a teenager and we drove down from MD to see it. I thought it was going to be boring but my dad insisted. Of course, he was right and I was wrong. It really was something special.

Mary2e

Here's a link from a thread earlier this year.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...hlight=shuttle

When I was there, it was delayed by 3 or 4 days. I did see it go up, but from the Orlando area. I was warned to to even try the drive, particularly on a holiday weekend. I could spend the day in the car .

I slept through a night launch, and was told it was a spectacular site. Hope you get to see it.

NYC96

I had the rare opportunity to watch a shuttle launch from the AIRCRAFT, inflight. The Captain onboard announced that we had a different flight path that day due to the shuttle launch. I watched it take off from a window seat onboard my flight. Unbelievable! It's like watching a torch, the flames shooting past our view. One of the highlights of my career.

tkey75

You're right. I am corrected, or confused . It's approx 17,000 feet (not miles - that's a looooooong way - apogee is only about 35 miles)

MsEverywhere

What time is the launch on the 7th? If I go standby on the earliest flights possible, and make all connections, then the earliest I could land that day is 6:30PM in FLL. I'm scheduled to land later, at 11:50PM.

tkey75

The launch is scheduled for about 9:30. You would likely not make it off the plane, into a car and up to Cape Canaveral in time, though as you drive you'd definitely see it launch right in front of you as you travel north.

CPRich

I was at launch #3, the first one to actually go on time iirc, which was lucky for us as we were only in the area for one day. 20+ years ago and I still remember it well. It wasn't "loud" as much as an extremely low frequency rumbling like you've never heard/felt before. This was from a viewing areas that was as close as the great unwashed could get - no VIP treatment here. I'm sure it's plenty "loud" in the traditional sense from closer.