Seeing the final shuttle launch

[ryan850]

This may be a dumb question, but I have wanted to see a shuttle launch since I was about 7. I would like to see the final shuttle launch next year. Do any of you know how far in advance I could get a pretty good idea of when the launch would take place. I've read a couple of rough dates on other web sites, and I know weather conditions have to be just right. I just don't really know how to plan such a trip. Anyone have any insight? I would be able to take a week off from work. Also does anyone have any suggestions for what else to do while I'm down there?

 

[trailrider]

Not a dumb question at all! But answering it is not so easy. I never saw a Shuttle launch in person until last May (STS-125)! As sort of an advanced birthday present, my daughter, son-in-law and grandchild presented me with a trip to the Cape...by way of Disney World Orlando. We spent a week at Disney World, and then motored over to the Cape and checked in to Ron-Jon's Cape Canaveral Hotel, which is right on the south edge of the ship channel for Port Canaveral. From the end of the 5th floor balcony you have view of Pad 39A, though it is at least 14 miles away. I could see the bird on the pad, which is something you can't do if you are down by the jetty. Because the launch azimuth for this shot, the servicing mission to the Hubble, was on a 090 trajectory, the stack flew to our right. For all other launches, the trajectory takes it away from you, up the East Coast to the ISS. Therefore, the best viewing sights would be up toward Titusville. You might be able to find out if tickets are available for closer viewing.

As to scheduling, that is a bear! Which is why, dispite having worked on the SRB parachute recovery subsystem, I never got to see a Shuttle launch in person! We lucked out. The launch date for STS-125 was backed up one day earlier to make the range available for "some military" requirement. It was a good thing, too, because the date of the original launch, it poured and we had a spectacular lightning show!

The best thing I can recommend is to try to bracket the launch date, giving yourself a day or so to get down and get settled. But, as you have noted, during the history of the STS program, weather and mechanical glitches can play hob with the schedule. Delays could range from a day to months! Not an easy puzzle to solve. At least while you are down there, you should plan to visit the Kennedy Space Visitor's Center, and maybe take in Disney World over in Orlando (about 60 miles drive).

I would take an AM radio so you can listen to the countdown, and a video recorder to catch the liftoff.

It was 48 years since the last time I saw a launch at the Cape!

Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!

All I can say is best of luck!

 

[centsworth_II]

And you better plan enough leeway in your schedule to allow for at least a week of delays (but don't assume that the launch won't take place at the first opportunity either).