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Have you ever seen a shuttle launch IN PERSON

N

Night201

Diamond Member
What was it like? I'm trying to find a schedule of future shuttle launches. I'd love to go see one.

I don't see a schedule for 2004.
 
I had the opportunity to sit in the VIP section once. IT was during graduate school and we were invited down for a launch. One word to describe it would be awesome. The only bad side was the weather. We had to wait two days to see the launch. Of course it was this weather that gave us the opportunity for the awesome seats. Some the dignitaries that were there for the launch had left after the first delay. This was the 100th mission of the space shuttle program.

I remember the ground just shaking tremendously but due to low clouds the shuttle was behind some clouds after only a few sconds.
 
It was cool, but its not really worth it. You watch it from a place damn far away, over a mile if i remember correctly, probably twice that. overpriced, overpraised.

I worked at NASA for a year, they launch WAY more shuttles than they tell the public, in the last 4 years they haeve launched around 105 shuttles.
 
well, just from orlando
you can see it up in the sky before it goes to outside space

never to the cape to see it up close
 
Been to a few when my brother used to work for USA (United Space Alliance) down at the Cape...

He got us some special passes so we were able to get near the area where the friends & family sit...
 
Originally posted by: fumbduck
It was cool, but its not really worth it. You watch it from a place damn far away, over a mile if i remember correctly, probably twice that. overpriced, overpraised.

I worked at NASA for a year, they launch WAY more shuttles than they tell the public, in the last 4 years they haeve launched around 105 shuttles.
Click to expand...

LoL ... yea, it's really easy to hide shuttle launches.
FWIW, The columbia mission was the 107th, hence the flight designation STS-107

Back on topic, some friends and I were going to roadtrip down to the Cape from Virginia when I was in college, but it never worked out. Plus the holds are so unpredictable. Then when I was in LA I wanted to go out to Edwards to see a landing ... that never worked out either 🙁
 
Plenty of times, you can see them go up from my house. I've never actually been to the cape during a launch though.

The launches are awesome at night... they light up the whole sky.
 
my grandparents used to live in cape canaveral. saw a rocket launch, pretty sweet. loud as a anything i'd heard before or since.
 
No. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

We were SUPPOSED to see a shuttle launch the day our cruise left from Port Canaveral last summer. It would've been the perfect location since the launch was scheduled to go off a couple hours after we had left (meaning it would've curved nearly directly over us.) But unfortunately, weather held it up (must've been bad weather WAY up in the atmopshere because it was sunny and not that windy that day.) I was EXTREMELY disappointed since that had been one of the reasons I chose the cruise for that week and not the week before.
 
I've seen dozens of them while growing up in central Florida. I even saw the Columbia disaster, but only from about 50 miles away, you can see them quite clearly from over 100 miles away.

The shuttles are a little kid's sparkler compared to the Apollo launches though. I remember seeing one in 1972, it was after midnight, and it looked like the sun was rising. It was bright enough to cast a shadow from almost 50 miles away. Awesome! I remember thanking my mom for waking me up to see it, I was like 10 years old. I saw several more Apollo launches since then, but they were during daylight and they weren't nearly as spectacular.

Edit: Just did some research, apparently the one I saw at night was Apollo 17, the last of the Apollo missions. The others must have been satellites that I saw during the day.
 
In a few years, I plan to fly as close as I can (with respect legal limits) and watch it from the air.
 
Originally posted by: jemcam
I've seen dozens of them while growing up in central Florida. I even saw the Columbia disaster, but only from about 50 miles away, you can see them quite clearly from over 100 miles away.

The shuttles are a little kid's sparkler compared to the Apollo launches though. I remember seeing one in 1972, it was after midnight, and it looked like the sun was rising. It was bright enough to cast a shadow from almost 50 miles away. Awesome! I remember thanking my mom for waking me up to see it, I was like 10 years old. I saw several more Apollo launches since then, but they were during daylight and they weren't nearly as spectacular.

Edit: Just did some research, apparently the one I saw at night was Apollo 17, the last of the Apollo missions. The others must have been satellites that I saw during the day.
Click to expand...

Link to the Apollo 17 mission, looks like a cool site! Apollo 17 mission
 
Originally posted by: Vortex22
Plenty of times, you can see them go up from my house. I've never actually been to the cape during a launch though.

The launches are awesome at night... they light up the whole sky.
Click to expand...

Send the OP an invitation already!
 
<-- Cocoa Beach native. Seen to many to count including the challenger when i was in the 2nd grade (teachers used to make us watch all the launches outside).
As for 104 shuttle launches in 4 years? Get real, that is not true at all. You must be mistaking the shuttle for something else like a delta or something.

Seeing them up close is better than farther away unless you have seen alot of launches. You can watch them in Titusville for free right across the river but its still not as nice as getting the VIP passes.
 
Yes it's quite loud with plenty of infrasonics. 🙂

Don't get your hopes up for next year, that's very optimistic at best.

Cheers!
 
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