'Where-To' Guide for Shuttle Launch? 48
jacobcaz asks: "Hello! I will be heading to Florida this week and I'm hoping to get a chance to see the shuttle launch. I'm curious what tips you all might have for out-of-towners to get a chance to see the launch? How close to try to get, places to go where we won't be stuck in traffic for 24 hours, how early to leave, and so forth. Thanks!"
one little bit of advice (Score:3, Informative)
Re:one little bit of advice (Score:2, Informative)
Re:one little bit of advice (Score:2)
Re:one little bit of advice (Score:3, Informative)
My dad used to get press credentials to it. The nearest press site is 3 miles away. You need special credentials, and they prefer you to not have a family. (If the shuttle blows up on the ground, you're dead.)
There's another press site 10-12 miles away. That one's a bit easier to get into. If it blows up on the ground, you have time to dive for cover before the blast reaches you. Even there, it's quite loud.
Re:one little bit of advice (Score:1, Informative)
Interesting... reminds me of an excerpt from Feynman's memoirs:
I flew back, and I just arrived when the buses were leaving, so I went straight out to the site and we waited out there, 20 miles away. We had a radio, and they were supposed to tell us when the thing was going to go off and so forth, but the radio wouldn't work, so we never knew what was happening. But just a few minutes
Re:one little bit of advice (Score:3, Informative)
One piece of advice though - watch out for fire ants!! We ended up unwittingly parking on a fire ant mound when we got out to watch. Not fun.
Just about anywhere.. (Score:3, Informative)
It really depends on what kind of view you want. There's a long road that drives by the launch platform on the way to NASA that people typically just pull off to the side and park there.
If you show up an hour ahead of launch you can probably get a pretty good spot.
just one advice (Score:2, Funny)
Re:just one advice (Score:2)
Re:Suspicious! (Score:1)
Just don't get a flat tire off of I-95. (Score:3, Funny)
South Of Cocoa Should be good (Score:2, Informative)
Re:South Of Cocoa Should be good (Score:3, Informative)
It mostly depends on what is bringing you to Florida. If you're going for the launch then I'm sure you'll want to get closer, in which case there's lots of open road heading into Canaveral, so just get there early and bring food and entertainment for the day and just park off to the side
Re:South Of Cocoa Should be good (Score:2)
But then again, once it's over 500 feet high, you should be able to see it from almost anywhere in Florida if there isn't too much cloud cover (from what I remember about the great flat plains of central florida...)
Sand Point Park (Score:5, Informative)
Parking [google.com] is available too if you get there early enough.
Of course, all of this could have changed since the last time I was down there about 4 years ago!
Re:Sand Point Park (Score:2)
Re:Sand Point Park (Score:2)
But like most posters said, just about anywhere will give you a good view. Especially any of the beaches south of KSC (Cocoa Beach through Melbourne Beach) will be good. That's where I usually watch launches from if I have the chance (i.e., they're not during work hours). Personally, since the launch is during the day, I'm just going to watch it from the office.
Re:Sand Point Park (Score:2)
Also, I agree with the other poster that KSC isn't that much of an attraction anymore (unless they have changed rules again). I went there several years ago and it was neat: got to go to the launchpad area, Saturn-V display and the building where they are building parts for the ISS. Then I went again post-9/11 and now the only stop was the Saturn-V area. Instead of the two cancelled stops they threw in an Imax movie :-(
Re:Sand Point Park (Score:3, Interesting)
Just the day before, the part of the tour where you get less than a mile away from the pads was cancelled because they were testing the external tank by (IIRC) pa
Correction (Score:2)
~Philly
Re:Sand Point Park (Score:2)
Wow, I didn't know they took people there. When I was there for the first launch I saw, I had an on-base pass for CCAFS, and got lost on my way out. I'd just passed that observation point you cited when I realized, as I approached a serious-looking guard, that I was on the wrong road.
Did I mention this was the John Glenn flight? And that security was a bit high?
Anyway, I'm glad to h
Re:Sand Point Park (Score:1)
Honetly. (Score:4, Informative)
Any beach in the county will give you a pretty good view. I am over 100 miles to the south and will walk out of my office and see it. Shuttle launches are not localized events.
I've seen it twice.... (Score:5, Informative)
The second time was a night launch. We'd gotten a nice waterfront table at a fantastic place in Port Canaveral, but I've no idea what it was called. [wait...google maps...tada! Grills Seafood Deck & Tiki Bar - www.visitgrills.com] We got a nice table on the deck near the water, watched the boats come and go (we were in town for a friend's wedding and watched them head out on their honeymoon cruise). Somehow, the four of us managed to hang onto the table for hours (having endless amounts of crabs, shrimp, and assorted drinks). Not long after it got dark, the band played the Star Spangled Banner, and about a minute after that, the shuttle launched.
-sniff- it still brings tears to my eyes.
Anyway, it wasn't nearly as cool as when we were on the causeway (you're actually several miles away, if I recall correctly). But, well....crabs, shrimp, and beer!
Re:I've seen it twice.... (Score:2)
If you do get to see it, post a followup with links to pictures, eh?
Distance... (Score:2)
I would say you would want to be well outside the radius of an explosion and falling debris...
Seriously, I would think Cocoa Beach would probably be a decent place to view the launch from, unless you were wanting to get even closer.
Re:Distance... (Score:1)
Re:Distance... (Score:2)
These scientists put it all on the line to advance our understanding of the universe, and you're not begging for a chance to be as close as possible, wishing them well? I'm saddened.
Shuttle is overrated (Score:2)
Re:Shuttle is overrated (Score:2)
Besides, it takes off hanging onto an airplane. Yawn.
Avoid US-1 (Score:2)
You can't get a base pass at this late date. The river is closed past the causeway, and flight restrictions are in place. The closest you can get is six miles or so, and lots of people are trying to crowd in on that six mile line.
Bring beer, and don't be in a hurry to leave.
Find a high spot, bring a telescope. (Score:2)
Bring a telescope and find a high spot a few miles away.
-Adam
Re:Find a high spot, bring a telescope. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Find a high spot, bring a telescope. (Score:2)
Either way, as flat as florida is, you need to get a little above ground floor if you want to see the launch pad.
-Adam
Is it the focus of your trip? (Score:2)
If I were to try to see tomorrow's launch from anywhere close, I'd probably leave Orlando at noon, sit in traffic the whole time, then get home at 8. And remember two things: 1) there mig
I live in orlando (Score:1)
Short of a cape pass best seat in the house.
Disney World! (Score:1)
Along the Indian River on Highway 1 (Score:2)
Recommended viewing areas per NASA:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/view/vi e w_shuttle.html [nasa.gov]
Ozzie's FAQ (Score:3, Interesting)
Ozzie's Space Launch Viewing FAQ [launch.info].
It has lots of info, including places to watch, radio and TV stations that will cover the launch, and scanner frequencies to listen to NASA, plus photography tips. He recommends Space Launch Park in Titusville, btw. Read his site for more info.
It's address is easy to remember, too: space.launch.info/faq.html
Related information (Score:2)
Damn... (Score:1)
Article here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4680687.stm/ [bbc.co.uk]
Let's hope they can launch it next week, perhaps sooner.
Late post, but.... (Score:3, Informative)
I flew to Orlando from Philadelphia in the morning and picked up a rental car. I got on the road at about 11:30am, about 4.5 hours before launch. They stagger guest arrival times to prevent total gridlock in the area, and my ticket said to show up no earlier than 1pm.
There was a LOT of traffic getting on Route 528, one of the main east-west routes in central FL. So much that they were just waving traffic through one of the toll plazas instead of collecting money. After that, it was just fine until about 8 miles from the Visitor Complex. I sat in traffic for about 45 minutes or so on Route 50, from a little ways east of Route 1 up to the 'official business check-in' building, [google.com] where there was a security checkpoint in the road. Ticketed visitors like me with dashboard placards were waved through to proceed to the Visitor Complex. [google.com] The other cars were turned away.
Once I got into the parking lot at about 1:10pm, they directed me to a spot. I was VERY far from the entrance because I arrived so late. I looked at the placards in other cars right by the entrance, and they had different times on them-- the earliest I saw said 9:30am.
Now, through security. I had a collapsible chair with me, binoculars, my camera and an external battery pack for it, two cellphones (work and personal), wallet and car keys. Carrying all this stuff was awkward because on launch days backpacks are absolutely verboten for security reasons. I had just been to KSC in May, and backpacks were fine then-- the security people check everything you have in them anyway.( If I go to KSC for a launch again, I'm going to be carrying my stuff in one of these [wholesaleforeveryone.com]-- they can't possibly object to that, can they?)
First it was through the metal detector with my pockets emptied, and then over to a table where another guy checked all my stuff. I had to turn on my camera and phones to show him they were functional, explain my camera's battery pack, and hold up my binocs so he could see through them. Satisfied, he let me pass. Oddly, he didn't even glance at the collapsible chair in the sleeve slung over my shoulder, where I could have been smuggling damned near anything 3' long and cylindrical.
Finally, I get out into the complex proper, and head over to the northeast corner of the complex. I chose a nice spot in the shade provided by the left SRB of the external tank and booster exhibit, and settled in to wait. You can't see the launch pad from the complex, due to a line of trees on the other side of the road, but the shuttle is only airborne for a few seconds before it clears them. Not ten minutes later, the launch was scrubbed. D'oh!
I hung out for a while and waited for everyone else to clear out before heading back to Orlando to catch my 8:30 flight home. Between the ticket, airfare and rental car, it was about a $400 day. I was disappointed, but I knew my chances when I decided to make the trip.
If they get it up before the end of July, I won't be there to see it. I'm rooting for this fuel sensor problem to be a real ballbuster so the launch is pushed back to September, and then maybe I'll take another crack at witnessing it. I don't know if I'm going to do it from KSC, though. It was a LOT of hassle with all the friggin' security. Also, the single-day round trip was a little rough. I had work on Thursday, and I had been very nervous about missing my flight home (th
Realy late.... (Score:1)
the view at night was great... the shuttle was all lit up, and you could see it sitting on the pad realy well. If the launch had happened