Man Oh Man, What a Show

Vero Beach
No LL

Last night we went over to the beach to watch a show that few places on earth could offer -- a night launch of the space shuttle.

We had the choice of going to the beach or to the mid span of the 65 foot bridge near the marina. The bridge is perhaps the highest lookout point in Florida (neglecting condo buildings), but the beach is more romantic. Ours was the only dinghy at the landing. Suprisingly then, we were the only boaters to choose the beach.

That doesn't mean that we had the beach to ourselves. There were thousands of people there and a minor traffic jam as more people sought parking places.

We went down on the sand and spread out our bamboo beach mats. Then we laid back and enjoyed the spectacular full moon that was just then rising out of the sea. I thought of how much more fun this was than enduring the winter up north.

As we neared the scheduled 7:55 launch time, we scanned the skies. We spotted a tiny point of light moving slowly eastward. "Look, a satellite," I said. A minute later it looked like the same satellite was moving westward. "Huh?" Then I watched closer. The point of light was circling. I figure it must have been a NASA observation craft. Then I expanded my field of vision. The sky was full of aircraft. Lots of them. They were traveling slowly, no doubt up there for sightseeing.

I heard, "26 seconds and counting," on the radio. Then I put the radio down and looked to the north. Suddenly the sky in the north lit up red. It was like the dawn. It's intensity and suddenness of appearance were stunning. A few seconds later, we could see the brilliant orange flame of the exhaust as the rocket itself lifted in to the sky.

We continued watching as the rocket rose. The orange flame got longer and longer. It must be that the faster the rocket moves, the longer the visible exhaust. That makes sense. Then, abruptly, the flame changed from orange to white. We figure that was when the solid fuel boosters exhausted. The white flame was as long as the orange one had been.

A few seconds later, we saw the solid boosters separate and fall back toward earth. They continued glowing red long enough for us to see their progress. Soon after, the white flame abruptly shrank to a much smaller point. Now the rocket looked like a jumbo star. That must have been what NASA calls, "throttle back."

We continued watching for another 7-8 minutes as the bright star climbed higher and shrank in size. Then it abruptly disappeared. I figure that it must have been obscured by a cloud bank somewhere over the Alps.

Man oh man; what a show.

Sorry, no sucessful pictures this time. My camera at night needs 4-5 seconds to make an exposure and there is no way I can hold it still enough. All I get is blurs. The picture below I downloaded from the NASA web site. We were not that close. We viewed from about 60 miles away.

Traveling back in the dinghy, we encountered a giant bird, the size of a blue heron, sitting on top of an isolated piling out in the river. We moved behind it until the piling and the bird were silhouetted against the full moon. It would have made a spectacular picture. Alas, from a rocking and drifting dinghy, and using long exposures it was quite impossible.