We got to see the shuttle from our back yard last night, which was SO cool!! I was expecting to only see a speck (We're in South FL) but it was a pretty good size, it burned orange until the fuel thing broke away, and then we watched the white speck until it disappeared completely.

We went to Johnson Space Center in February after our cruise, and got to see Mission Control and the training areas, as well as learning about the training program. I'm totally fascinated by space, and the kids really enjoyed learning about it, so seeing a night launch with such perfect skies was great. I'm hoping to take them up to Kennedy for a launch before the shuttles are retired in 2010, we'll see if we make it. The only other shuttle experience I've had, unfortunately, was seeing Columbia break up, so this was a much nicer memory to have. Any other FL moms catch it? Has anyone been to a launch before?

By Kay on Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 08:27 pm:

The most spectacular sight I think I've ever seen was the launch of a space shuttle in July of 2001. We were vacationing at DisneyWorld, and it was my husband's dream to be able to see this. Due to a delay by several days, it fit right in with our vacation, and we got up at 3:30 that morning and drove from our Disney resort to a place to watch. I had tears running my face, and to be able to share this with my husband, 3 children, and mother was beyond amazing.

By Crystal915 on Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 10:29 pm:

Kay, That's awesome that you got to go!! Reading your post made me want to take my kids even more!! We missed out on some other "to do" things in Houston because I wasn't feeling well, but seeing the Space Center was a non-negotiable point... and I'm glad we went because I got choked up during certain parts of the tour. My ex-in-laws live up in that part of FL, and he is retired military, so I'm hoping we can use some of his contacts to get to a launch, my ex-husband says they can be difficult to get admission to? Either way, lodging is taken care of, so I'm going to start checking the launch schedules.

By Kaye on Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 11:16 pm:

Crystal, needless to say we are space junkies here. When the shuttle docks with the iss, you can see it in the horizon. I will look up the schedule and post it later.

My dd babysits for some of the people who work the launch. So she gets all sorts of cool stuff in her babysitting fees We have several close aquaintances that are astronauts and I am always the silly one that says, well it is soo cool what you do.

The launches are hard to get tickets two. Each astronaut gets I think 4 passes to let people in besides family. The ones I know often have a pastor come as one of them. The big thing to know is launches are very flexible, the weather has to be perfect or they don't go. So they leave a bit window for launch days, so when you plan to go make sure you have several days after just in case it gets pushed back.

By Emily7 on Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 12:16 am:

I would love to see a shuttle launch.
How lucky!

By Crystal915 on Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 12:18 am:

You can see it on the horizon? From where?! That is so cool...

By Kaye on Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 09:25 am:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/index.html is the sight. It is always easier to see when it is docked with the shuttle.

By Crystal915 on Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 01:04 pm:

Thanks, Kaye!! According to the site, we should be able to see it Monday afternoon, although I still don't understand what part of the sky I'm supposed to look at. I really enjoyed watching the ISS path on screen in Mission Control when we visited. I was hoping the link would have a similar screen...

I checked the shuttle schedule, and we will be in Palm Coast for Thanksgiving, visiting the kids' family, so we will be close when they land. If I understand my ex correctly, you can hear the "boom" when they re-enter?

Oh, and I would do the same thing, be the silly one saying "Oh, your job is SOOO cool!!!!" I mean of course it is, who wouldn't find it amazing?!

By Kay on Sunday, November 16, 2008 - 01:10 pm:

We visited the Johnson Space Center in Houston as well when the kids were younger, and it's amazing. The kids really enjoyed the interactive play area there.

We happened to just hit it right for the shuttle launch that year. My husband was hoping it would work, and because of a delay, it fell right in with our trip. We drove to Titusville, across an inlet of water, and we happened to snag a parking place and walked over to where LOTS of people were already gathered. I remember taking some awesome photos of it. The most amazing thing is that you SEE the launch before you hear it....we saw great amounts of smoke, saw it begin to rise...so slowly and majestically....and then you hear the incredible roar. It was just mesmerizing.

By Bellajoe on Monday, November 17, 2008 - 08:42 am:

My DH will be so jealous of you! He really wants to see a launch.

When we were at the airport, leaving Orlando this summer we were watching the shuttle land on t.v. and we actually heard the sonic boom as they re-entered. My dh was so excited like a little kid! He's really into all that stuff.

He wants to plan it so when we go to Hilton Head this summer, we can drive down to Florida and see a launch. Yes, it's a long drive but I'm not going to keep him from that. I think his dream is to see a launch.

When I was in high school, i went on vacation to Melbourne Florida with a friend. We were on the beach and all of a sudden felt this rumbling. We look up and there was a space shuttle going up! It was pretty far away. It looked to be about a centimeter long. But it was SO COOL!

By Wandilu on Monday, November 17, 2008 - 09:24 pm:

What part of Fl ? Is it any where close to Jacksonville?

By Crystal915 on Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - 06:31 pm:

The Space Center? It's about halfway between Jacksonville and Miami, so not very close to Jax. It's at a place called Merritt Island. I was surprised how close it is to us here in WPB, and during our trip for Thanksgiving, we'd actually have to drive halfway back down to see them land.