Fire in the Sky

A unique oportunity presented itself on Nove 14th and Robin and I decided at the last minute to try to give it a go. So; throwing together an overnight satchel we jumped in the car immedaitely after work determined to drive as far north as we could practically get and see if we could spot the Space Shuttle Endeavour We drove a expeditiously as conditions would allow and made it approximately 175 miles north of our home, but about 35 miles south of the launch site. Even in our position, some 19 miles south of Cocoa Beach, the traffic was harsh and roads were getting close to clogged up. We opted to pull over at a beach access and set up the lawn chairs with about 20 minutes to spare.

At liftoff time, the northern sky lit up as if an impossibly brilliant sunrise were occurring. Then the fireball that could only be the shuttle cleared the horizon and began racing up into the sky. It was bright enough, even from our vantage nearly 30 mile away, to be hard to look at directly. The speed at which it leaves the earth and careens heavenward is absolutely astounding. The bright light of the shuttle's engines showed us where the smoke trail lay as the vehicle pushed toward, then through, a thin layer of clouds. A nearly full moon graced the partly cloudy sky and the on-shore breeze was fresh enough to prevent us from hearing any sound except the surf and the cheering of those people around us.

I tried to video the launch, but the camera was overwhelmed trying to focus on the fireball and get any sort of light-balance. The picture up top is not mine, and is shot from north of the launch site, but I like it :)

It was a long drive, over 3 hours and our reward was about five minutes of spectacle. We could see the red-hot boosters fall away from the orbiter as the shuttle climbed down-range and we watched as the giant fireball turned away and graudually diminished into a very bright pinpoint of light.

This was my second, and Robin's first viewing. Was it worth the drive? ... oh yeah!!
We're already planning to see the next one in February. Perhaps we can get more than a four-hour head start and we will be able to get to a proper up-close and personal vantage point.

Still, 30 miles away, ... it was awesome. Simply awesome.

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After the launch, we meandered back along Florida's highway A1A, heading for Vero Beach and a hotel reservation. It's been a pretty demanding couple of weeks and the thought of spending a relaxing morning sounded very nice, so we found a vacancy at a Holiday Inn Express and had a late evening meal and sat on the lawn chairs just up from the beach. It's very pleasant to slow down from a hectic pace and take some time to just zone out and relax.

We spent most of Saturday driving and stopping, driving and stopping as we worked our way back home. We visited a couple of other beaches, stopped and toured some state parks and gawked at the marinas, drawbridges and expensive homes along the way back. We discovered a couple of places we'd like to visit again, and had a very enjoyable afternnon trip back home.

A fun Friday and Saturday to be sure.