Friday July 8, 2011 Florida - Shuttle Launch

This was really just a continuation of the previous day. At midnight I started driving over to the hotel in the Orlando area. I got there at about 1 AM and met up with the other people that I would be going with. The bus ticket was for 4 people. I met an older couple and then an older man who had provided the extra ticket. After some delay we got on the bus and headed to KSC (back where I had just come from). We got there about 3 PM or so - there wasn't much traffic. We talked for a bit but also got some rest. When we got to the Visitor's Center, the let us out and said we would be collected again at about 5 AM. We had the run of the place until then.

I walked to the bus access area shortly before 5 AM and it was a mass of people. When we had arrived a lot of people had set up chairs and sat there. I hadn't realized why. Then it turns out I was in the wrong section of the entry and had to go sideways completely to the other side. We ended up snaking through and exhibit and a bunch of barriers to go to a completely different area of the Visitor's Center. We had been told which bus to aim for but I never saw our guide. I ended up walking through a few rows of busses until I stumbled on the right one. The other three of our foursome were already there. We talked for a bit and then I nodded off to sleep. The busses were supposed to leave around 8:30 or so. I woke up well after that and we still hadn't moved. Somewhere around 10 or 11 AM we finally went off to the observation area. It took less than a half hour to get there. Everyone got out and ran for an observation point. I got trapped by a bush and ended up in sort of a second row. The people in front of me were in chairs so I could shoot over them. The camera with the full zoom did find the shuttle but the distance made the images rather fuzzy (I also may not have had the best auto settings). The plan was to put the camera on a tripod to hit the shutter once a second for launch and hand-hold the camcorder at the same time, trying to keep it steady.

We had about 2 hours before the launch, plus the continual reminder that the weather could still prevent launch. There was a PA system that allowed us to hear launch control. We had a visit from a helicopter while we waited. I spoke with a couple behind me who was there with their two year-old. They had driven down from one of the Carolinas. This was their second launch viewing.

The time went by fairly quickly and the weather got progressively better. Sometime in the last half hour rain started falling on Merrit Island. There was a slight possibility it could move over to the landing strip, but they decided to wave the requirement. The crowd cheered when the countdown started up from the last hold. The count went down smoothly until 31 seconds. There was a hold because a sensor indicated an arm hadn't fully moved away from the shuttle. It delayed the launch about 2 minutes. It was quite a cliffhanger. They started up right at 31 seconds and boom it was off. The clouds of exhaust and water vapor obscured the shuttle almost right away. It popped out of the top of the clouds and headed in a curve as it was turning on its back. The one thing that I didn't expect from the launch was the glow of the SRB exhaust. It looks very different in person. The Shuttle hit a cloud layer fairly quickly. It was really only visible for a few tens of seconds. I could see it though some openings in the clouds after a little bit but it went into the clouds a final time before the SRB separation. Although I was still listening to the PA system I almost immediately started breaking down the tripod and getting everything in my camera bag (so was everyone else). I waited to hear they were good after SRB seperation, but didn't wait until orbit insertion. Then it was back on the bus.

The bus ride back was expected to be long because everyone else would be using the roads out of the area. I napped off and on and we got back without it being too late. I said my thank-yous to my host (and the guide) and then drove back to my hotel. I arranged with the front desk that I was going to be leaving the next day (Saturday) rather than Sunday as I'd originally planned. Then I got some rest. I think I also made reservations for Miami and Key West then too (either that or the day before).