Where to watch a spacex launch

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Danh

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My family and I are heading to florida in a couple weeks And there just happens to be a spacex launch scheduled for the 28th at midnight . We are planning on going to see it . Where is the best viewing location to watch a launch there.
 
California Grill at Disney World.
Either from the outside deck or request a table with an east view.

M
 
Watching a SpaceX launch from Disney World would be like watching 4th of July fireworks from 10 miles away when you could have been 1/2 mile away (we did that once when I was a kid....ONCE!). It's only useful if you just want to look out and see some "dot" moving thru the sky without the inconvenience of driving to-from the Cape and the inconvenience of hearing the sound, feeling the rumble, and experiencing it with thousands of other viewers (I only have seen one launch vehicle take off, Space Shuttle STS-47 in 1992).

As to the Echostar 23 launch....

If NASA had not stepped in to put CRS-10 on the next launch (set for the 18th), you might have have the opportunity to see the CRS-10 booster come BACK and land at LZ-1 (not 100% confirmed they will do that). As CRS-10 was orginally scheduled for that launch slot (2nd from Pad 39A, now the first). The Echostar 23 satellite it swapped with, now set for launch on the 28th is so heavy, needing so much fuel, that the booster is not even going to be able to attempt an ASDS Barge landing on the ocean.

Anyway, two things. SpaceX launch dates are etched in sand. Feb 28th for Echostar-23 is only going to happen if CRS-10 launches on the 18th, otherwise say a 2 day delay would ripple forward to the next launch too. AND if they have a RECORD turn-around to repair the pad from routine launch damage and launch the next mission (and since CRS-10 is the first launch from the modified Pad 39A, I would expect it to take a longer time to inspect and fix the pad than if this was say launch #20 from it).

Also, BTW - I am not sure but the 28th might have been set when the original launch NET (No Earlier Than) date for CRS-10 was Feb 14th. So they may not have bothered to update the NET as it is.

So, sorry to say, the odds are not very good for the 28th.

Now having said all that, if they do launch in time, here is a thread on NSF about best viewing areas for the CRS-10 launch and landing. In the unique case of that thread, most useful replies mention both the distance from 39A, and distance from LZ-1 (If I was there for a Falcon that would be coming back to land, I'd get closer to LZ-1). So, you can look at the best options closest to 39A.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=42220.0
 
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I watched one once from Lori Wilson Park in Coco Beach. If I had planned in advance, I'd have tried Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral since it is a lot closer.
 
Thanks ,we plan on getting as close as possible.going to visit the visitors center the day before so we'll be in the area .
 
Like Syclone said, Jetty Park is a pretty good place to watch. They might charge you $5 to get in. Also, the 528 causeway is another popular place.
 
I got to watch an evening launch of a Delta IV Heavy from Jetty Park. I'd always thought that the tearing sound you here from recorded launches was just an artifact of microphones not being able to handle the volume. Nope, it actually sounds like that. Quite impressive.
 
That's good to know to me it seems like that's a long ways away to hear much.
 
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We watched the Shuttle with John Glenn from Jetty Park.
And it was good.
The Space ex that couldn't land on the barge due to high waves we watched from Disney Contemporary roof. It was the fifth or so attempt, about 50 watching there.
With binoculars from Disney on a shuttle launch the solids can be seen falling away and if there were cloud layers it was spectacular.
 
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