I got back last night from a dash to Florida to watch the Shuttle launch. The abort on Sat. 9 minutes before launch was quite the letdown. Sunday was less dramatic since it was raining (at least where I was) when the launch was put off again. Finally Tue rolled around and as everyone knows the launch went as planned. I was about 10 miles away across the Indian River. At liftoff vapor blasted from either side of the platform and the Shuttle rose rather quickly above the bright orange flame that left a dense column of vapor beneath. The low, rumbling roar reached us on the shore about a minute later. It kept getting louder and louder, just adding to the impressiveness of the launch. The solid boosters eventually cut out and then I could see them detach from the Shuttle and slowly drift from it -- they were just little, faint white dots. After the Shuttle disappeared from view (i.e. when I couldn't find it any more with my binoculars) I turned my attention to the cloud formations left behind. The vapor trail had expanded to full-fledged clouds, and I think except for their vertical nature, would have been distinguishable from the natural clouds dotting the sky. After having seen the Columbia break apart 3 years ago I had set a goal for myself of seeing a Shuttle launch and I must say it was worth the effort. Robert Fenske, Jr. rfenske@swri.edu Sw |The Taming the C*sm*s series: Southwest Research Institute /R---\ | Signal Exploitation & Geolocation Div | I | |"The Martian canals were the San Antonio,Texas USA ph:210-522-3931 \----/ | Martians' last ditch effort." ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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