I
viewed this launch from Titusville from the 406 causeway bridge. I got to my position about an hour and 20 min before liftoff. At that point, parking, and picking a spot was easy. It filled up steadily after that.
The view is still nearly 12 miles away from the pad, so if you can swing some passes inside, you can get much closer. That's what I'm going to try to do for one of the remaining five launches.
Hi Roy,
I will see what I can do. I only know two people who can get me inside seats, but I will beg them. Maybe we can hook up? I will keep you in mind and let you know at least a month in advance.
I really want my wife to experience a live launch instead of just replay over TV.
My closest launch was years ago as an Eagle Scout out of the Air Force Station in El Segundo; I think they named it after Onizuka who died aboard Challenger. I remember Julie White as one of our scout advisers; anyone know if she is still around? I know she had a Masters in Physics, and worked for the Aerospace Corporation... I really respected her and she understood us 'youngins'; this was sirca 1982/83.
Anyhow, one weekend we went for a field trip up to Vandenberg AFB to watch the launch of a an Atlas carrying an aircraft transponder detector satellite. It would detect the transponders of downed aircraft including Soviet aircraft. It was a joint civilian aerospace project between our two countries. The Soviet fishing trollers pulled up off shore so they could take telemetry from the flight... did anyone just catch what I typed there?!? The trollers are SUPPOSED to be catching fish, NOT missile telemetry
Anyhow, I was with a group of scouts on a bluff that looked down into a shallow valley that was say a few miles wide, and had the Atlas pad on the other end. I asked an E-3 or something like that if we could walk toward the pad to get a closed look; he said, 'why not?'. Well that is all we needed, so we started walking.
Well about half way to the pad, a large white cloud of steam appeared at the base of the Atlas, followed by a fireball, then the rocket ascended on a pillar of orange-yellow flame. About 2-3 seconds later, the shockwave hit us, and the air in our lungs reverberated. I was AWESOME!!! We must have been within 2 miles of the pad, and I am still wondering why MP's didn't come out and arrest us?!?
Well the flight went without a hitch, we watched the the bird heading South downrange and later that night, on ABC World News tonight they showed the launch.
If I ever become a REALLY famous or infamous person, someone needs to review the footage of that launch and look for 3 or 4 tiny specks directly North of the pad 1 -2 miles away. One of those specks was me!!! :grinch:
So I want her to experience what a real launch is like. Not in the stupid way we did it, but at a SAFE distance :happydeer:
Jonathan
