space shuttle (STS 130)

[rodbolt]

anybody else here on the east coast watch it?
I saw it from the beach in Kill Devil Hills NC.
impressive.
maybe I can go see the launch in FL on march 18th.
its just to cool.
from launch at 4:14 till I got back home at 4:38 the STS130 had gone from FL to kuwait.
thats haulin some cojones.
in the next few nights,those that have claer weather on the east coast, will be able to watch with the naked eye, the shuttle approach the ISS.

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: space shuttle (STS 130)

i have seen them many times, at night. being this close, i have never been to a launch.

 

[JB]

Re: space shuttle (STS 130)

I used to watch the launches when I lived in Ft. Lauderdale. Had the unfortunate experience of watching Challenger blow up. Really gut wrenching.

Also, after I moved back to Texas, I watched Columbia burn up on reentry. Less dramatic, just as deadly.

Something about a shuttle launch, or any space-bound vehicle, calls for dramatic music. Ahhh, but you would never be able to hear it. A Saturn 5C launch was the loudest sound I ever experienced. From 20 miles away it vibrates your whole body as though you were a speaker cone.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: space shuttle (STS 130)

Geez JB, maybe you should move out of the flight path? You seem to be bad luck?!
My grandfather saw Columbia explode as well, and it actually bothered him, and he wasn't the type to get upset about death and stuff. He said that the smoke trails stayed in the air all day, when seemingly on every other launch, they were blown away very quickly.

My parents can watch the shuttle take off (at a distance of about 65miles) from their bedroom window. Mostly just a fireball going up, but cool indeed.
I saw one of the earliest ones launch while we stopped on I-4 outside Orlando. Very cool indeed!

 

[CaptainKev]

Re: space shuttle (STS 130)

It's going to be a sad day when they retire the shuttle. What a awesome & magnificent machine.
CaptainKev.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: space shuttle (STS 130)

whats even sadder is there are only 4 more launches scheduled,next fall will be the last, then we rely on the russians for the next 5 to 7 years to move US astronuats to and from the ISS.
go figgure.
I hope to go see either the march or july launch in person.
something I have wanted to do since the early 80's.
but that kind of speed and power is just so awesome.