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Rocket’s vapor trail

July 4, 2006

It was supposed to be one of those once-in-a-lifetime shuttle launches. Independence Day. One of the last shuttle flights. We were all standing on our driveway, waiting to get a good look.

Instead, this is what we saw.

launch.jpg

Yeah, no rocket’s red glare here. More like the rocket’s white … vapor trail.

Hey, that shuttle is fast. Blink and you’ll miss it.

You can get a much better look at Discovery’s liftoff here.

There will be another shuttle launch or two, I hope. For the next moon launch, we may even make the drive out to the Cape.

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2 comments

  • Pam

    Because the Cape juts way out into the Atlantic, anything south of that area has a great view of the launch. The blink factor is still there, however. You have to be at attention to catch the whole thing. My recommendation is to try to catch a night launch – bring the kids and don’t worry about lost sleep. The night launches are amazing, whereas the day launches don’t have the impact, regardless of what we want to believe.

  • Joe

    Just to correct Pam, after the Columbia disaster, there are no more night launches. I remember seeing a night launch from Miami, on a clear night! When living in Orlando in the early/mid 90s, I remember (while driving) stopping on 436, along with a lot of other cars watching the shuttle go up.. numerous times. What an amazing site. It’s worth the 45 minute drive (on the Beeline) to go out and see the launch as close as possible!

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