Today Mae Lyne and I made the the first two up trip on the Tiger XC to to Titusville, Florida. Our trip was not the historic event even though it was the first. We went to watch the last Space Shuttle launch.
We waited as late as we could to leave for Titusville knowing the roads would be very crowded - and they were. I took the long way trough back country and ran into congestion at I-95. Over one million folks poured into the Space Coast to watch this last launch.
The weather was iffy; there was a 70% chance the mission would be scrubbed. As I looked at the radar, I notices only a few showers in Central Florida and a long the coast. The bulk of the weather was moving in from the southwest and it had not yet reached the west coast. If that held for three hours, the mission would be a go.
At 8:35, we climbed on the Tiger and headed out the the 46 miles to Titusville. This is normally an hour ride. Today it took two hours. We arrived in Titusville around 10:30 and found a place to park in the median of US1 on concrete. Law enforcement was letting folks park anywhere they could as long as they did not block traffic or drive ways.
We walked about a half a mile to a marina and walked out to the point on the river. We had a clear view of the shuttle about eight miles away. We knew that our usually viewing spot would be totally packed. We would have had to go there and camp yesterday morning.
Trey and his family went and were about 1/4 mile from where we usually watch lauches. We could not get in contact because the cell system was not designed to handle the traffic of New York City. Titusville is a small town. The cell frequencies were preempted by NASA, law enforcement, and emergency services. So cell phones were useless until after the launch - no matter which subscriber one had. Sheryl and her family went to the Canaveral National Seashore south of New Symrna Beach. They were about 20 miles from the launch pad.
The launch went off right on schedule and it was a thrilling sight - a long trial of flame with the shuttle and booster looking so small on the top of the flame, like an inverted Roman candle. Because of a cloud cover at about 6,000 feet/1,829 meters, the shuttle was lost from sight rapidly. The shuttle disappeared into the clouds and the rumble started, building to a roar and we felt the vibration and the shock wave.
What an experience. I am so glad that we got to witness the piece of history.
We waited as late as we could to leave for Titusville knowing the roads would be very crowded - and they were. I took the long way trough back country and ran into congestion at I-95. Over one million folks poured into the Space Coast to watch this last launch.
The weather was iffy; there was a 70% chance the mission would be scrubbed. As I looked at the radar, I notices only a few showers in Central Florida and a long the coast. The bulk of the weather was moving in from the southwest and it had not yet reached the west coast. If that held for three hours, the mission would be a go.
At 8:35, we climbed on the Tiger and headed out the the 46 miles to Titusville. This is normally an hour ride. Today it took two hours. We arrived in Titusville around 10:30 and found a place to park in the median of US1 on concrete. Law enforcement was letting folks park anywhere they could as long as they did not block traffic or drive ways.
We walked about a half a mile to a marina and walked out to the point on the river. We had a clear view of the shuttle about eight miles away. We knew that our usually viewing spot would be totally packed. We would have had to go there and camp yesterday morning.
Trey and his family went and were about 1/4 mile from where we usually watch lauches. We could not get in contact because the cell system was not designed to handle the traffic of New York City. Titusville is a small town. The cell frequencies were preempted by NASA, law enforcement, and emergency services. So cell phones were useless until after the launch - no matter which subscriber one had. Sheryl and her family went to the Canaveral National Seashore south of New Symrna Beach. They were about 20 miles from the launch pad.
The launch went off right on schedule and it was a thrilling sight - a long trial of flame with the shuttle and booster looking so small on the top of the flame, like an inverted Roman candle. Because of a cloud cover at about 6,000 feet/1,829 meters, the shuttle was lost from sight rapidly. The shuttle disappeared into the clouds and the rumble started, building to a roar and we felt the vibration and the shock wave.
What an experience. I am so glad that we got to witness the piece of history.
!! 
