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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 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.
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.
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.