Space Shuttle Launch

One word: Amazing

On July 15, 2009, while on vacation in New Smyrna Beach Florida, we planned on watching the space shuttle launch. The mission had been scrubbed a number of times, so having 2 young children with us, my wife and I decided to watch it from the beach. Realize that if you have young children watching a shuttle launch from Canaveral is tough! Very frequently launches are delayed or postponed, and traffic into the area is a killer!

Most people that don't live on the Eastern Florida coast 50 miles North or South of Cape Canaveral don't realize how visible the launch is. We were approximately 20 miles away and the beach was packed with locals looking to get a view of Endeavour blasting off. The sky was perfectly clear, but apparently the view is still awesome on a cloudy or over cast day. After "take off of Endeavour" was announced on the radios onlookers had brought, the orange red flame shot over the ocean. My son stood awe inspired and said, "it's like a fireball in the sky... wow!" With in a minute the shuttle was out of site and all that remained was the enormous smoke trail. We stood, all of us, silent, for what seemed to be an eternity. The only sounds were that of the ocean crashing in front of us. Then, without warning a loud rumble shook us. The sound of the launch had finally reached us.

If you ever have the opportunity to be in the area during a launch, DO IT! You will not forget it.