This evening I drove from Orlando over to the coast to watch the space shuttle launch. The closest place outside of restricted NASA property is a town called Titusville. Just south of Titusville is the Astronaut Hall of Fame where there is a viewing area (actually just a lawn at the back of their space museum but they charge you $17 to sit on it and it was full).
I guess I got there about 6:00 pm which gave me a 90 minute wait for the launch. The wait wasn't too bad - lots of people, lots of kids, lots of talk about delays, and the usual heat and humidity, but things got off on time and it was well worth the wait - very spectacular indeed. We were quite some way away from the launch pad, so the initial views were silent and then this wave of sound rolled over us as the shuttle crept up into the sky leaving this great plume behind it.
I don't know how long it took to disappear from sight - maybe a minute, certainly not more than 2 minutes, and then we all applauded and went home. Definitely well worth it - a spectacular sight - truly awesome as we say these days.
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