Observed Launch from about 8 miles away in Titusville, FL (on the river bridge). I don't have the vocabulary to put the experience to words. Visual observing is great, but... When you can add feeling the heat of the engines, hearing/feeling the sound etc, it is different! There were none that I saw without smiles on their faces and very many had tears. I was blessed to meet (and have a beer or 2) with a deligation of Swedes - 45 of them are staying in my hotel for this launch. The past few days they have been in a very somber mood, I expect that to change tonight!!!! Clear and Dark! Daniel Crawford TTY in Titusville FL On 12/9/06, Don Gardner <mir16609@verizon.net> wrote: > Nice to have the night launches back. > > From Alpha Ridge Park in Maryland (39.3058 N, 76.8992 W, 146mALS): > The shuttle was not an easy target until about T+ 6 minutes - then it was > about -1.5 mag about as bright as Sirius. I followed it in the eastern sky > - about 8 deg above the horizon. It seem as though MECO was somewhat longer > than T+ 8 minutes. Using 7x50 binos I followed it for about another 90 > seconds and observed the short burns of the thrusters to maneuver the > external fuel tank form the shuttle. > > I tried to capture it using a camcorder but it did not perform well in low > light conditions. > > > Don Gardner > 39.1799 N, 76.8406 W, 100m ASL > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: > http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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