Sometimes, when you're on a plane, you get to see...

[DesiPower]

mookbarked

 

[MiniDoom]

I had the pleasure of watching the shuttle launch a few years ago while in flight to Orlando. it was truly amazing seeing how fast the thing ascended.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

that's pretty awesome

 

[marvdmartian]

I would love to know how long it took for it to pass from the top of the clouds until it was out of sight above her. These things have to travel at 17,000+ km/h to reach orbit no?

According to this article on Wikipedia, the speed attained by the space shuttle is "Speed: 7,743 m/s (27,870 km/h; 17,320 mph)".

Saddest part of that page is on the right hand side, where they report this:

Total launches 134
Successes
133 successful launches
131 successful re-entries

Failures 2:
(launch failure, Challenger); and
(re-entry failure, Columbia)