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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.
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.
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.
I don't think you can really go wrong. It would be cool to be close enough to see the launch tower etc. but it's a pretty good show from anywhere. I was at Disneyworld with my wife in 1997 and the night of a launch we hopped in the car and headed east, hoping we'd find our way to a good vantage point. Well we got behind schedule and were still an hour away when the time came, so we pulled over (so did a lot of other cars) and turned on the radio so we'd know when to squint and look for a bright dot in the distance. Yeah right, it was like the rising sun!!! It was great. And just when the radio said they were dumping the external tanks we saw a couple of dots drop away, very very cool. So anyway after that I started to suspect that the US space program may not be a hoax after all, they sure as hell launched something and if it wasn't going to space, it wasn't for lack of trying.
If you are in the DC area you can always try Wallops Island for launches of some smaller vehicles.
Sig? What if I prefer Glock?
Last time I went to see a shuttle launch I called my state senators office several months ahead of time and after a lot of holding and a little convincing I got a pass to get closer in. I'm not sure exactly how close since it was several years ago but that's what I would do, it was worth it.
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 :)
I've been on the causeway for a shuttle launch. Thats about as close as anyone can get. It was amazing. Make that Freakin Amazing (TM). You see the flames and smoke in the distance and of course it takes some time for the sound waves to catch up. What really surprised me was that I watched the water vibrate as the shockwave sped towords me. Then it hit. The ground shook, my ears were filled with the roar and my internal organs rattled. My pregnant girlfriend was there and I have always wondered if we altered our son's development.
As a kid they used to let us out of our elementary school classes to watch the Saturn V's take off. Eighty miles away in Orlando we could still see the flames. In fact we used to sit in the living room at home and watch the shuttles through the window, while the TV showed us the close up. Thats how we watched the Challenger explode.
So anywhere you get within twenty miles is going to knock your socks off. Just be prepared for delays that may sending you home with dissappointment.
Although it's about 5 miles from the pad. Went several years ago with my wife, and parents (X-Mas present sending them to FL from us kids) Worked out well, my Mom was able to get a good view, and they had elevator access to the roof deck. Watching from the KSC Visitors Center would have been OK, but you can't see the pad, so you only see the shuttle once it's in the air. AHF roof, you can see the pad.
I think to get closer (media area or Satrun V building), you need to either be related to someone on the shuttle, or maybe brown-nose your senator/congress people. Even those areas are around 3 miles away from the pad.
Only downside to AHF is the tower is just a little spike on the skyline, nothing like what you'd see from the media area. Price when we went down was basicly, buy an admission to the AHF, you could get up on the roof. They even had a projector showing NASA TV coverage on the wall of the Space Camp building....
Do you see the FNORDS? I refuse to post anonymously, as I am fireproof!
Seriously. They'll get you pass to see the launch closer. The one launch I went to (STS-26), my friend wrote/called our congressman, and got a pass. There were three level of passes back then, in order of closesness they were badges, orange car passes (we had this), and yellow car passes.
I remember two things about the launch. First we saw liftoff and then several seconds later we felt the blast and the heat, and heard the roar of the engines. It was amazing how quickly the environment changed. It was like a wall of heat rushing over you. The second thing I remember is that on the way back to the car, it rained. I've always thought that it had to do to all the water vapor that injected into the air by rocket engines.
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.
... 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
Now, something you might consider, while nowhere near as large as a real launch, but still a fun day out that you and your kids will enjoy, is to attend a high-power model rocket gathering in your area. Despite the name of "model rocket", these things are anything but models - don't expect Estes launches here (although some clubs run small launches for kids in between the main launches). These things are as big as and act the same way as a regular missle (and if you want a "thundering" launch, the hybrid liquid NOS/solid fuel rockets are very fun to watch). Flights of +10,000-20,000 feet are not unheard of. These are great events to go to, many of them have vendors selling smaller kits, but if you buy, be prepared for a very expensive hobby (a rocket costing $5-10,000.00 to build, then exploding on the pad, is also not unheard of). Also, you need to be mindful of all warnings and such of the launches, and watch/listen to everything - I have seen large rockets lawn-dart not too far from crowds, and if you aren't looking, you could have a painful lesson.
But don't let that put you off - it can be a fun occasion for the entire family - bring some lawn chairs and binoculars, maybe a barbeque or a picnic basket. Lasts for a few hours, and you will have a great time, and meet some interesting people (at one I attended, I met a guy who successfully launched a homemade rocket he made out of PVC pipe and some two-by-fours - no kidding!)...
Reason is the Path to God - Anon