Last night we got to watch one heck of a sight in the launch (on-time in perfect weather) of STS-126. What an amazing sight to see a night launch and from only 3 miles away where we were. The pictures I have don't do it justice, I just snapped a couple to say I was there. For good pictures refer to the NASA official photos that are taken with cameras slightly more sophisticated than my point and shoot. I don't know what images captured, but the two best moments in the launch were 1. Ignition (of course and there are pictures of that) and 2. when the Orbiter passed through a thin layer of cirrus clouds. As the orbiter passed through these clouds, we could see the shockwaves ripple through the cloud and cause them to dissipate (all illuminated by the light from the engines). That was the simply awe-inspiring part of the launch and all the better because we certainly didn't expect something like that.
The other cool part of the evening and the whole rest of the SFA trip for that matter was that our good friends Brian and DeAnn were also there. DeAnn got an SFA for her hard work on the ATV program, Congrats DeAnn! So we had a great time just hanging out and talking while we waited for the launch.
After the launch it took 4.5 hrs to get from KSC back to the hotel in Orlando, that is normally an hour or so trip. We were pretty beat and tired of being on the bus by the time we got back but it was certainly worth it for the launch.
...Now to console tomorrow for docking to "work" the mission.
3 comments:
Cool! Say "hi" to Brian and DeAnn for us!
It sure is amazing, isn't it? I wouldn't have traded being able to see a shuttle launch for anything (and I'm glad I didn't have to)! Glad you were inspired by it as well - see you on console!
Congrats! Looks like you guys had a blast (pun intended)! :) I love night launches, nothing else like it.
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