Space Shuttle Launch

anguilla

Just wondering if anyone can give me any advice on this. I will be in Orlando for the December launch slot and am thinking of buying premium tickets which include car parking. Are they worth it? Are the other facilities on the base open before/after launch (will I need another day to go round)? Is it better to watch from somewhere else? etc

TIA

sturll

anguilla wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone can give me any advice on this. I will be in Orlando for the December launch slot and am thinking of buying premium tickets which include car parking. Are they worth it? Are the other facilities on the base open before/after launch (will I need another day to go round)? Is it better to watch from somewhere else? etc

TIA

Waste of money.

Go to Cocoa Beach.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=cocoa+beach&sourceid=navclient-ff&rlz=1B3GGGL_enGB286GB287&um=1&ie=UTF-8&split=0&ei=bC4LSs_sA8-TjAfe5JGUCw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1

Best view there is.

jfdi

There's lots of info about Shuttle launches on the Florida forums (forii?) on Trip Adviser, do agree with Sturll tho - fantastic views from Cocoa Beach.

Incapuppy

Yep, we weren't on Cocoa Beach - I'm really sorry that I can't remember where we were but it was (from memory) maybe 5 or so miles down the coast, in a fairly quiet area, I can't even recall if we had to pay for parking - if we did it wasn't much. There was a cafe and a huge elevated decking platform. The atmosphere was fantastic, made more exciting by people who had radios that picked up conversation going on over at Kennedy. This is going back 15 years so sincere aplogies if things have changed so much since then that it makes this info redundant!

5 miles might sound a long way but even from that distance we had a great view of the Vehicle Assembly Building (I think thats what it's called) and the view of the launch was amazing. Really emotional to watch actually - I hope you manage to see it!

costadel_2

take the main road to the base, you will be stopped 6 miles out, from there you can watch from across the water it is close enough to actually feel the ground shake and feel the blast

BillTrac

We went to a shuttle launch a few years ago. Drove to Kennedy about 2am as it was a [planned 7am launch. Beautiful sunny November morning.

Security on road to prevent people without passes getting in.

Coach from the main building out to the beach, looking across the water to the launch pad. Kiosks along the beach for refreshments etc, and tannoys so you could hear talk between mission control and the astronauts.

Probably a couple of thousand people but not cramped in any way. Quite noisy, but when the countdown got to t-10secs you could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

When the shuttle launched and the noise came across the water it really made the hairs on the back of my neck rise. And you could see the shuttle till the fuel tanks jettisoned(sp?) which someone said was about 12 miles.

I always thought the shuttle went almost straight up, but it seemed more of an arc

I dont know if you would get the same experience further out

RedCanadaHat

now you're making me want to go! how often do they do these launches? i remember my parents took me when i was about 11 years old but they had to cancel the launch. Can't remember whether is was due to the weather, or otherwise.

Diamond_Olly

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html has the dates http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view/index.html for the tickets