TFA: Lift-off!

Since the space shuttle Atlantis will be launching today (barring technical difficulties and weather), I thought it might be a good time to blog about my live experience of a shuttle launch.

Anyone who knows me understands how much of a dork I am about NASA and the exploration of space. It’s something that’s obviously a risky enterprise, but to me has romantic appeal, analogous to venturing westward in 19^th century America.

Once I found myself in Florida, taking a trip to Cape Canaveral to watch a shuttle launch was at the top of my list. On August 8^th, 2007, I got to mark it off.

A group of us decided to make the trip from Ft. Lauderdale to the coastal town of Titusville, Florida where we would watch the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour. The drive was anything but glamorous, but when we got closer to our destination, we started to see a spattering of cars parked on the side of Highway 1. The closer we got, the more these groups grew and the more I became amazed at how many people actually watched a shuttle launch.

By the time we arrived in Titusville, the number of spectators had grown into a mass of humanity that stood on a packed shoreline waiting to catch a glimpse of Endeavour.

Pushing through the crowds, we finally found our own spot to patiently await the launch. With binoculars in hand, I gazed through and began to skim the horizon. It was a fairly hazy day and the binoculars had a hard time focusing in on Merritt Island over the bay, but I knew exactly what I was looking for – Launch Pad 39A.

From my vantage point, I knew the launch pad was to the left, or north of NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (a huge, rectangular building that preps and houses the shuttle). After locating the exact position of the pad, I stood patiently, waiting for the final countdown.

With personal radios and car stereos blaring the NASA audio feed, the time had finally arrived. With bated breath and child-like anticipation, I watched and listened as the final seconds arrived: 3, 2, 1 . . . Lift-off!

While taking pictures with my camera and describing the launch to a friend over the phone, I gazed across the bay in amazement. Plumes of smoke shot out from the launch pad and an orange glow from the rockets illuminated and pierced through the haze. A few seconds later, the shuttle was clear of the tower and miasma she had created. While captivated by the view, the sounds and vibrations of the launch hadn’t reached us yet. The silence the shuttle ascended in seemed unnatural, but like rolling thunder from a spring storm, Endeavour eventually let us know that she was there.

The entire experience of being at a live launch lasted no longer then two minutes. To some, the build-up may have over hyped the actual event, but I personally got to witness a childhood dream come true that I will never be able to adequately describe.

Either way, a space shuttle launch is something that everyone should definitely see.

ER