Question, where's the best place to watch the shuttle launch???

I've always wanted to watch a launch live. Now that I'm
in Miami and have loads of spare time, I'm going dammit.

Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance
should I get there, and are there any necessities to
bring along? Can you get a hotel if the launch is
scrubbed etc? Note, I'm not the camping type~

Thanks in advance

s

jonathan wrote:
Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance

I believe the best place would be one of the mission specialist seats on the
upper deck.

As a distant second, the press area near the VAB and the saturn V areas are
just a few miles from the pads.

Third would be the NASA Causeway. You used to be able to request tickets for
this site, but I think it's now handled through the same people who run the
visitor's center.

You can see it, and hear it from Titusville. I recall some places on the
north side of Titusville having big viewing areas with celebrity (or at least
ex-astronaut) speakers.

Glen Overby

Glen Overby wrote:
jonathan wrote:

Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance


I believe the best place would be one of the mission specialist seats on the
upper deck.

MS couch? **** _that_. (;^

--

..

"Though I could not caution all, I yet may warn a few:
Don't lend your hand to raise no flag atop no ship of fools!"

--grateful dead.
__________________________________________________ _____________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
"Mikey'zine": dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

mike flugennock wrote in
ervers.com:

Glen Overby wrote:
jonathan wrote:

Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance


I believe the best place would be one of the mission specialist seats
on the upper deck.

MS couch? **** _that_. (;^

Yeah, the CDR and PLT seats have a *much* better view!


--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

Glen Overby wrote in
:

jonathan wrote:
Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance

I believe the best place would be one of the mission specialist seats
on the upper deck.

As a distant second, the press area near the VAB and the saturn V
areas are just a few miles from the pads.

The forward fire teams are a bit closer, and not *quite* as difficult to
get to as the MS seats...

The LCC parking lot is also a favorite of KSC employees.


--
JRF

Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail,
check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and
think one step ahead of IBM.

On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 13:13:09 -0400, "jonathan" wrote:

I was thinking of taking an ultralight with me, painted in Hezbollah yellow~

Good luck with that, I guess...

Dale

Could've sworn I'd plonked him

On Wed, 30 Aug 2006 04:11:26 -0700, Dale wrote:

Could've sworn I'd plonked him

....You did. The dildo-breathed miscreant munged his addy again. I had
to replonk him as well.

OM
--
]=====================================[
] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [
] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [
] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [
]=====================================[

"Glen Overby" wrote in message
...
jonathan wrote:
Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance

I believe the best place would be one of the mission specialist seats on
the
upper deck.



They'd have to pay me a boatload of money to ride along.
And then I'd probably still not go. Cheap thrills aren't worth
the risk, and the view is overrated.



As a distant second, the press area near the VAB and the saturn V areas
are
just a few miles from the pads.


I bet that's the only perk of being a science journalist. I wouldn't
want to be in the way.



Third would be the NASA Causeway. You used to be able to request tickets
for
this site, but I think it's now handled through the same people who run
the
visitor's center.

You can see it, and hear it from Titusville. I recall some places on the
north side of Titusville having big viewing areas with celebrity (or at
least
ex-astronaut) speakers.


I was thinking of taking an ultralight with me, painted in Hezbollah yellow~



Glen Overby

jonathan wrote:
I've always wanted to watch a launch live. Now that I'm
in Miami and have loads of spare time, I'm going dammit.

Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance
should I get there, and are there any necessities to
bring along? Can you get a hotel if the launch is
scrubbed etc? Note, I'm not the camping type~

Thanks in advance

s


My family and I saw July 4th's launch of Discovery. We didn't have
access passes to KSC ( they're expensive, sell out fast, and not the
right place for my autistic son) so we opted for one of the waterfront
parks in Titusville. Spaceview Park is popular, but we used Manzo park
as it had shade trees and a playground for my boy.

We packed a picnic lunch and parked at the shopping mall on US Rt1
across the street from the park. We arrived about three hours before
the launch. One can see the launch pad, the VAB and the upper parts of
the Shuttle's ET from there, the rest of the orbiter is hidden by the
launch gantry. Bring binoculars or a spotter scope and a portable
radio.

The launch itself is quite exciting. You'll both feel it and hear it
even though you are over ten miles away. The brightness of the SRB
exhaust plume really surprised me.

When the launch is over, there will be huge traffic jams on all roads
leaving Titusville and the KSC area. My suggestion to you is to walk
over to the shopping mall, check out the Spacewalk Hall of Fame gift
shop and have dinner at the Italian resturant in the mall. It's clean
with air conditiong, ice cold drinks and a big screen TV. My kids liked
that! Sit back, relax, and realise that you've been an eyewitness to
history.

Hope this helps,
Gene DiGennaro
Baltimore, MD.

In article ,
"jonathan" wrote:

"Gene DiGennaro" wrote in message
oups.com...

jonathan wrote:
I've always wanted to watch a launch live. Now that I'm
in Miami and have loads of spare time, I'm going dammit.

Looking on the net, there's a bunch of places to watch
from, but where would you go? How long in advance
should I get there, and are there any necessities to
bring along? Can you get a hotel if the launch is
scrubbed etc? Note, I'm not the camping type~

Thanks in advance

s


My family and I saw July 4th's launch of Discovery. We didn't have
access passes to KSC ( they're expensive, sell out fast, and not the
right place for my autistic son) so we opted for one of the waterfront
parks in Titusville. Spaceview Park is popular, but we used Manzo park
as it had shade trees and a playground for my boy.

We packed a picnic lunch and parked at the shopping mall on US Rt1
across the street from the park. We arrived about three hours before
the launch. One can see the launch pad, the VAB and the upper parts of
the Shuttle's ET from there, the rest of the orbiter is hidden by the
launch gantry. Bring binoculars or a spotter scope and a portable
radio.

The launch itself is quite exciting. You'll both feel it and hear it
even though you are over ten miles away. The brightness of the SRB
exhaust plume really surprised me.

When the launch is over, there will be huge traffic jams on all roads
leaving Titusville and the KSC area. My suggestion to you is to walk
over to the shopping mall, check out the Spacewalk Hall of Fame gift
shop and have dinner at the Italian resturant in the mall. It's clean
with air conditiong, ice cold drinks and a big screen TV. My kids liked
that! Sit back, relax, and realise that you've been an eyewitness to
history.


Thanks, I'm taking your reply with me. I hope it's not too creepy
to have your trip reproduced so preciselyg. If your kids liked
it, I'll like it. Thanks again

They took away my best viewing place -- the airspace west of I-95. I got
to see two Shuttle launches from the air -- one at dawn, the other at
dusk and even have a picture of my plane with Atlantis lifting off in
the distance, under my plane, with the full rising moon in the
background. The picture was taken by a friend, in formation.