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Watching a Space Shot?
Gramie2 asks: "I was toying with the idea of throwing my son in the car and driving for two days to watch the latest shuttle launch. I didn't, but it occurred to me that I don't know the logistics of going to watch a launch. Where is the best place to stay near the site? Where do you view from? I imagine that there are restrictions, so do you have to get tickets or make other arrangements ahead of time? How do you find out the launch schedule? What about smaller launches? How do they compare? Is there one time of year that is better than another? Does anyone have other recommendations for the whole experience?"
Cocoa Beach, south of Daytona Beach in Florida, is a pretty good spot to watch the shuttle launch. The parking is free (in some places), there's plenty of it, and, if the shuttle launch gets scrubbed, at least you get a day at the beach.
The causeway is about the best place to watch the launch. You will be shocked by the traffic and the people that will be there. :) People tend to be nice and friendly.
If you can not make it to the Nasa causeway Merritt Island isn't bad.
Remember that you go all that way and the shuttle will not launch.
In the summer people bring grills, and jet skis
One of several parks on the beach side will also give you a good view.
I don't know about anyone else feels but when I see a launch I feel an emotional attachment that watching it on TV just doesn't provide.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Viewing distance is much farther away for shuttle launches vs other launches from what I understand
And I presume they let press closer because they sign some sort of "hold harmless" contract
They have a store for purchasing tickets:
n s/faq.html
http://kennedyspacecenter.stores.yahoo.net/
Also saw this when searching for the causeway passes, which seems to indicate that you might have to go some other way:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/about/questio
Lots of links to schedules, and recommendations of places to go to watch. http://www.sworld.com.au/steven/space/shuttle/guid e.txt
I abuse commas, I cannot help myself.
The closest you can get is about 3.5-5 miles. A few times my friends and I have driven State Road 50 until it dead ends near KSC for shuttle launches. You litterally see it anywhere in central Florida, but the experience of feeling the sound is best experienced on the beach. There are plenty of hotels in the area, you'll want to make reservations as far in advance as you can. The hardest thing is that you might not see it go off. I saw a launch get scrubbed with 3 seconds left on the countdown clock.
I've been beachside for a few of the rocket launches, my experience was about the same, just scaled down a bit. Unless you have binoculars it's hard to tell the difference between a shuttle launch and a rocket launch.
A good place is Playa Linda Beach in Titusville. I was there a few weeks ago and could see the shuttle quite clearly on the launchpad. It would have been an awesome place to watch the shuttle go up but I'm sure it'd be packed on launch days!
"Black holes are where God divided by zero." - Steve Wright
The Unofficial Space Shuttle Launch Guide is perhaps one of the finest guides to seeing a shuttle launch and should be consulted first.
If you do decide to go the route of buying a launch viewing ticket from the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, please be aware of the rather mercenary policies in place if you buy a ticket and the launch is scrubbed. Delaware North runs the Visitors Center and the Astronaut Hall of Fame. They'll even charge astronaut families and invited guests for busing them out to the VIP viewing area -- at least they were three years ago. Don't know if that has changed.
Google for shuttle launch watching
First result is a big guide detailing all of those things mentioned in your question and with more than a dozen links to other related materials.
Specialization is for insects. -Heinlein
Unfortunately, the road out to Playa Linda and the beach itself is closed on launch days. Don't even think of sneaking past ... the NASA SWAT team sports MP5s among other toys :)
Contact your congressman. Seriously. That's the best way to do it. It was when I worked there.
Why are women so complicated? Find out how little I know here.
This might be actually be one of the best chances to see a launch, because they REALLY want to get this thing up into orbit by Sept. 8th. They've been chomping at the bit for 3 years to get going on ISS assembly and they've got the 2010 deadline. And as Tuesday's crawler reversal shows, they are pushing hard for this launch. Sept. 8th is a hard deadline, and after that they either have to relax rules (which they'd take a lot of grief for, both internally and externally) or wait until late October.
Road trip!
One simple rule for its versus it's
Kennedy Space Centre has a visitor's centre where you can go on tours of the launch pads, landing facilities, etc. (they take you out in busses) and as someone who has gone it's a really cool experience. I talked to the guide (who had worked for NASA for many years) about where the best place to see a launch is and his reccomendation was to get tickets and they'll bus you out to the closest you can get to the launch pad as a civilian. There are stands for VIPs about 3 km closer but getting a ticket requires some connection to NASA though people have gotten them by writing their representative in congress. His advice however was that becuase of the angles you'll get a better view from the public viewing spot.
Search for "Oak Hill, FL 32759" on Google Maps.
As Routes 1 & 5 cut SW towards I95, you will see Route 3 (Kennedy Pkwy) extend SSE and head right past the VAB. (Of course you can't get that close). Heading down Route 3, you will come to a bridge that crosses over Haulover Canal (where is says Allenhurst on the map). The road was/is closed beyond the bridge, but there is a little sandy parking lot next to the bridge. It is the same distance as watching from the causeway itself. The road was closed beyond the bridge.
This is where I watched a shuttle launch a few years ago. Unfortunately the only shuttle launch I have ever seen in person. (NJ resident, and yes, it is the greatest state in the Union, regardless of what Trey, or any of you say.)
My wife and I spent the day in St. Augustine, and then headed down to watch the early evening launch. We got down there a few hours early scouting for spots to watch, and came across this place. While waiting for the launch, we walked down to the canal and saw some manatees. Of course, if you're a FL resident you've probably already seen millions of them. I expect it is still accessible.
I can't help you with hotels, but as long as you know what time the shuttle will go off, you probably don't have stay too close.
Good luck!!
... here is how my wife and 1-year-old son and I did it.
If you enjoy camping, there is a KOA just north of Titusville on the interstate. Otherwise check out the state parks. (they were all full, fourth of july week and all).
Anywhere along the shore close to the shuttle is good (pull out a map...) but where we saw it - along with mostly locals - was a bridge just **north** of Space View Park (A Max Brewer Memorial Parkway). Take the bridge until you are almost to the entrance of the park, and camp it. You will need to get there hours early (we got there 8 hours early and there were quite a few people... but it was the first return to flight mission). Bring a grill and some fine grillables.
The other options is viewing **at** kennedy space center which is a mile or two closer, but the tickets are sold out by now.
Launch schedules are on NASA's website http://www.nasa.gov/
For the whole experiance? Take a few days, go camping, the day before go tour Kennedy Space Center, because if the stars align and there aren't any problems with the shuttle they will actually drive you within a mile or two of it and you get some pretty good camera shots (from inside the van). I'd suggest getting there 2 days before the launch, go to KSC, go to the launch, don't be suprised if the launch gets scrubbed, and plan on having vacation last a few extra days in order to attend scrubs, if they happen. If not there are plenty of other attractions...
Space view Park in Titusville is the best place to view a Space Shuttle launch, if you haven't got a NASA Pass. There is a cable connection (part of the Franchise Agreement) in the park. The City of Titusville gets NASA-TV off the cable, and puts the audio on loudspeakers with the NASA Feed. You can also get this from the local Ham Radio repeater on 146.940 MHz.
http://spacelaunchinfo.com/spaceview.html
A "Space Launch Viewing FAQ Page" can be found at http://spacelaunchinfo.com/faq.html
Information on launch holds and scrubs can be sent to your cell phone: http://spacelaunchinfo.com/holds.html
Keep Smiling,
Cheshire
Richard Cheshire, The Cheshire Catalyst
I went last year when the launch was delayed for a couple of weeks. I found 2 good spots by driving around and looking at google earth.
One was behind Holiday Inn (wi-fi), and the other was one block north of McDonalds (grassy and shady). I slept in my car under a palm tree there overnight and wasn't bothered. That was last year, but I can't imagine it shouldn't have changed too much.
Advice: Get there early to get a good spot. Getting there the day before the launch will let you look around and pick any spot you want. 12 hours before will let you get a good spot, and 3 hours before launch will make it hard to find a place to park. It wasn't boring for me to get there early as the other people waiting for the launch were fairly interesting to talk to.
Also... I recomend waiting a while for traffic to clear before trying to leave. It's realy bad for an hour or so afterwards, but then it clears right up.
-John Fenley