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I always love watching when I can. Today is rare, there are 2 shuttles on the pads at the same time, one standing by for a rescue mission if needed. Apparantly they will be flying about 350 miles up, which is littered with more space junk than NASA is comfortable with. Lots of space walking, too. I wouldn't want to step outside if I knew my boss was nervous about space junk.

I watched the shuttle take off in July 2005. I just happened to be in the area for work, and I decided to go just on a whim. Not having planned much in advance, I of course didn't have tickets to get onto the base, but even from about four miles away, looking up the sound at the launchpad, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had. I highly recommend it.

We will all be running up to the roof of the parking garage to watch it (you can see it from Tampa)- NASA feed in my ear - ice issue may scrub (it is 90+ freaking degrees - ice - hell just put the thing in the sun!)

Other useless trivia - according to CNN - recall the scene at the beginning of Top Gun where Maverick and Goose are inverted flying with a Russian MiG and they give them the finger...the pilot and the owner of the finger in that scene is the Commander for this shuttle mission.

I've been in Florida twice for a lift off, but due to weather wasn't able to see it. Once I was in Ft. Myers, the other time on the road between Tampa and Orlando. On clear nights, you can see it go up from here at the beach, but I've never been lucky enough for a clear night. Sigh. I'll be watching on my computer today.

Ice declared within allowable - Go Flight
Target launch now 2:01:56

I'd sell my mother to fly on that thing.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I've been in Florida twice for a lift off, but due to weather wasn't able to see it. Once I was in Ft. Myers, the other time on the road between Tampa and Orlando. On clear nights, you can see it go up from here at the beach, but I've never been lucky enough for a clear night. Sigh. I'll be watching on my computer today.

You really need to go to the Cape Canaveral area at least once. You can (obviously) see it pretty well, even from the 4-5 miles distant vantage point I had. Just as impressive, though, is the fact that you can feel that sucker in your chest from that far away. It's pretty wild.

My dream is to go down there someday and spend the day on a boat, drinking and then watching the shuttle take off and then drinking some more.

is it on TV? What channel?

I watched it NASA.tv, and CNN.com. I'm sure any of the news channels had it.
Launch was smooth.

windsor wrote: I'd sell my mother to fly on that thing.

Hahahahahaaaaaaaa... "Happy Mother's Day, Mom. It's been nice. See ya!"

Sue71 wrote:

windsor wrote: I'd sell my mother to fly on that thing.

Hahahahahaaaaaaaa... "Happy Mother's Day, Mom. It's been nice. See ya!"

LMAO!

windsor wrote:Other useless trivia - according to CNN - recall the scene at the beginning of Top Gun where Maverick and Goose are inverted flying with a Russian MiG and they give them the finger...the pilot and the owner of the finger in that scene is the Commander for this shuttle mission.

I feel the need, the need for speed.

wilson wrote:

CameronBornAndBred wrote:I've been in Florida twice for a lift off, but due to weather wasn't able to see it. Once I was in Ft. Myers, the other time on the road between Tampa and Orlando. On clear nights, you can see it go up from here at the beach, but I've never been lucky enough for a clear night. Sigh. I'll be watching on my computer today.

You really need to go to the Cape Canaveral area at least once. You can (obviously) see it pretty well, even from the 4-5 miles distant vantage point I had. Just as impressive, though, is the fact that you can feel that sucker in your chest from that far away. It's pretty wild.

My dream is to go down there someday and spend the day on a boat, drinking and then watching the shuttle take off and then drinking some more.

I've seen two launches live. The first, when I was in HS in Ft. Lauderdale, my brother (the one previously referred to in the siblings thread) and I drove up to Titusville for Apollo 12. Even being parked many miles away on the side of I-95, the thunderous rumble of that Saturn V booster was awesome. The rocket went into the clouds in less than 5 seconds, but it was still well worth the 6 hours of driving (up and back). The second was a shuttle launch in 1994. I picked up my daughter from a week at Space Camp that morning, and for those that wanted to stay and watch, we had access to a viewing area on the periphery of KSC. While nice, the lack of noise from 5 miles away, compared to the Saturn V/Apollo launch, was disappointing.

Oh, after a 9 p.m. Duke home game several years ago, there was a nighttime shuttle launch with a northerly trajectory, and we saw the point of light flying northeast about midnight while driving home.

A note about Space Camp http://www.spacecamp.com/category.php?cat=Space. I took my then 11 year old daughter to a parent/child weekend program in 1993. We were on a team that learned all about the space program, from weather to aerodynamics, and ran a one hour simulated shuttle mission in the orbiter. We got to try out all the training simulators - the Multi-Axis Trainer (gyroscope looking thingee), the 1/6 gravity trainer, backpack maneuvering device, and several more. We even built and flew an Estes (brand) model rocket (something I had done as a kid). I had a blast, no pun intended, and so did Jennifer! Talk about quality time! She liked it so much that she went back for a week-long (well, 6 day) program the following summer, which is when I picked her up and we saw the launch. They run these camps in both Titusville (Kennedy Space Center) and at the NASA facility in Huntsville, AL. If you have a love of the space program, and if you have a kid, I strongly recommend you look into attending. Yes, they even have adult only programs for us big kids!

I've said for quite some time that if I ever won the super duper lottery or somehow otherwise got (read: "married") really, really rich, I'd definitely go into space. That's the one thing in life that I really dream of doing that I'm more or less certain I'll never get to do.

wilson wrote:I've said for quite some time that if I ever won the super duper lottery or somehow otherwise got (read: "married") really, really rich, I'd definitely go into space. That's the one thing in life that I really dream of doing that I'm more or less certain I'll never get to do.

This one is for you! http://www.spacecamp.com/details.php?ca ... t+Programs

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:The first, when I was in HS in Ft. Lauderdale, my brother (the one previously referred to in the siblings thread) and I drove up to Titusville for Apollo 12.

That's 100% awesome. I've heard the Saturn 5 boosters created the loudest man made noise, I'm not sure if it's true but I wouldn't doubt it.

CameronBornAndBred wrote:

OZZIE4DUKE wrote:The first, when I was in HS in Ft. Lauderdale, my brother (the one previously referred to in the siblings thread) and I drove up to Titusville for Apollo 12.

That's 100% awesome. I've heard the Saturn 5 boosters created the loudest man made noise, I'm not sure if it's true but I wouldn't doubt it.

Having heard it, I believe it!

My father worked on Apollo 13, so I saw that one. Saturn V blows the shuttle of the water for spectacular launches

windsor wrote:My father worked on Apollo 13, so I saw that one. Saturn V blows the shuttle of the water for spectacular launches

Was "the problem" his fault?

When I was but a wee child, my Dad took us to some remote marshland viewing of the launch of one of the Mercury missions from Canaveral. I don't know which one it was and he is no longer around to ask. He would remember chapter and verse with ease.
That vacation was most memorable due to a side trip to Daytona Speedway. We stood at the forth? turn gate and watched one solitary car taking practice laps. That was the loudest thing I think I've ever heard.

captmojo wrote:When I was but a wee child, my Dad took us to some remote marshland viewing of the launch of one of the Mercury missions from Canaveral. I don't know which one it was and he is no longer around to ask.

It could have been this one then. The capsule from it is in Durham at the Museum of Life and Science. Always a favorite since I was a kid. It carried a chimp, and brought him back home alive.
http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mer ... /ma-5.html