Viewing a space shuttle launch

[NoJoke]

Ok, here's the next launch: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sh...120/index.html

Oct of 2007

I live in CA and I'd take the fifth wheel.

What is the probability of an on schedule launch in Oct vs other months of the year.

What's the best RV spot to view it from?

Insight and info is appreciated...I would like to see a launch!

[glfredrick]

We've been down there for a scheduled launch -- it is quite a spectacle -- but bring binoculars, as the closest you can get to the action is across the bay from the actual launch site.

You'll be joined by several thousand other folks with the same idea. Parking is wherever you can find it, and the area is quasi-industrial, which means no real nice beach area, etc. We managed to find a spot inland a block or so and had to climb up on some stuff to actually see well.

About meeting the actual schedule -- well, as always, that is touch and go. We waited around for several hours past the scheduled time before they finally made a definitive call on the radio that the launch would not happen that day. It would have been something to see, but alas, not that time.

[soilantgreen]

Originally Posted by NoJoke

Ok, here's the next launch: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sh...120/index.html

Oct of 2007

I live in CA and I'd take the fifth wheel.

What is the probability of an on schedule launch in Oct vs other months of the year.

What's the best RV spot to view it from?

Insight and info is appreciated...I would like to see a launch!

Hell, you can see it from my house, but the view you want is from as close as you can get. Search for campgrounds in the little coastal towns as close to the Cape as you can find. And ask what their view of the launches looks like. If you can't see the assembly building, you'll get a lesser view.

And good deal on the RV part. If you were to drive over from one of the inland campgrounds in a car, it'd take you five hours to get out of town after a launch.

When we owned property on Cocoa beach, we tried 3 different times to see a shuttle launch, unfortunately, all 3 were aborted.

I have seen night satellite launches, still amazing.

You can sit on the beach at Cocao beach and see things nicely, except for right on the pad. I think the amazing part is seeing it going up, and the reflections over the ocean, and the trembling of the ground

[61scout80]

when i saw a launch we bought tickets at kennedy space center, rode a nasa bus to some alligator infested island and waited all day. if i remember correctly the only way to get to this area was through nasa. We were told it was the closest you could possibly be as a civilian.

it was a long time ago, not sure if they still do the bus thing and i have no idea how much the tickets were.

it is something you'll never forget. my advice is to not bother with a camera, just take it in. i wish i wasn't clicking and winding my old comera just to get some pics of a white line of sloke with a flame at the end. i'm not sure if my photo album is here or in Pa, if i can find it i'll scan in a pic or 2.

[Cabin Boy]

Originally Posted by ScottFJ40 V2.0

You can sit on the beach at Cocao beach and see things nicely, except for right on the pad. I think the amazing part is seeing it going up, and the reflections over the ocean, and the trembling of the ground

Oooh...the way you say it, makes me feel funny, like when climbing the rope in gym class.

/rawr

[soilantgreen]

I remember going over the night before the launch of the first shuttle to go up after the Challenger explosion. We parked the CJ-7 beside the road facing the Indian River (the body of water between the mainland and Merritt Island which is itself seperated from the barrier island that the Cape is on by the Banana River. We sat in the jeep getting eaten by skeeters until we said to hell with it and walked across the street and hung out in a bar until closing. Unfortunately, it was one of those Florida coastal bars full of the usual losers with leathery skin and the gravelly voice from a five pack a day smoking habit.

We went outside and tried to sleep sitting up in the CJ. This was the first time I ever tried to sleep outside of a tent in Florida in the stupid humidity.

Luckily, they launched with a few delays the next morning. By the time of the launch, it was blazing hot and crowded. The anxiety in the air for the astronauts was palpable. When the Challenger disaster was not repeated, I looked around and couldn't find anyone who wasn't crying. At the risk of sounding hokey, it was one of those times that I was proudest to be an American. In the interminable traffic jam afterwards, we watched porpoises jumping in the Indian River.

Originally Posted by Cabin Boy

Oooh...the way you say it, makes me feel funny, like when climbing the rope in gym class.

/rawr

I have that effect on women... and apparently some men too

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by ScottFJ40 V2.0

When we owned property on Cocoa beach, we tried 3 different times to see a shuttle launch, unfortunately, all 3 were aborted.

My understanding was that the shuttle launched from a pad on the North side of the island, and you couldn't see the pad from Cocoa Beach. I've seen a satellite launch from CB, 5:30 am one summer morning...

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

My understanding was that the shuttle launched from a pad on the North side of the island, and you couldn't see the pad from Cocoa Beach. I've seen a satellite launch from CB, 5:30 am one summer morning...

Yep, I mentioned that somewhere. Still spectacular!