When I was younger, we came to Florida and saw a rocket launch. At the time I remember thinking that it would be cool to see a shuttle launch. Fast forward 20 some years and we moved to Florida and I still thought that it would be cool to see a shuttle launch. However, we just never got around to it. I was going to take the kids shortly before we moved, but got nervous about the crowds, where to park, would it get scrubbed, etc. Unfortunately, we moved away without ever seeing it. Now, back in Florida, and time growing short. I kept my eye on Discovery's launch schedule last November and it just never happened-until yesterday. Some ladies from church decided to go to the beach and see it. We weren't in a spot where you could see the launch pad, but we did see it for about 30 seconds after it took off, before it hit the clouds. We also got to hear it. I've heard that in Orlando you can see the smoke trail. We actually got to see it "on fire." It was 75 minutes away. It took just over 2 hours to get there, and 3 to get home. Was it worth it-totally. Was it fun to take the kids out of school for the day-yep. Was I dog tired when I got home-you bet. Oddly enough, I was reminded of 1986 when we went to NYC and spent the day at the "beach" (an old land fill covered in sand) to see the 4th of July events when the Statue of Liberty was "unveiled" after being refurbished. I know we fought crowds that day too (bigger than yesterdays), but it was worth the experience.
If we had been closer (with a huge telephoto lens) this is what it would have looked like:
This is reality:
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| See the little dot of fire...that's it. It actually seemed a bit closer in person. |
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| Smoke trail. That's what we were seeing when we first heard it take off. |
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| What is this picture you ask? Samuel threw up on the way, and that's all the stinky stuff that I sure didn't want in my car. |
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| Cruise anyone? |
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| People pulled over at the toll plaza to watch. We were still abt 30 miles away. |
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Cars pulled over where you could see NASA building and launch pad (with binoculars).
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| All the people |
1 comment:
Sounds like it was totally worth it.
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