Something you don’t see camping every day....

[Judge]

We’re staying at the KOA on Chincoteague Island this weekend and we had a front row seat last night to the Antares Rocket Launch supply mission for the International Space Station.

Skies were clear..... full moon..... we could see the ground fire, lift off and it flew right over us.

I’d rather be lucky than good any day....

Pretty dang cool!!! [emoji106]

[coachray]

That looks like it was pretty neat to see.

[Bob Denman]

Bravo!
Congratulations on catching it!

[JamieGeek]

Pretty cool.

My parents could usually see rocket launches at Kennedy from Southern Florida.

(I saw the 3rd Shuttle launch in person. Its quite something to be right there when they go...)

[Popfla]

We were camping at Jetty Point Park in Cape Canaveral a year or two ago, and at 2-something in the morning we were awakened by rumbling that shook the motorhome and a bright light that was brighter than daylight. We had forgotten that a Falcon9 rocket was launching from the Cape. The rumble was strong enough that vehicle alarms were going off all around us. Cool experience!

[The_Breeze]

Originally Posted by Judge

We’re staying at the KOA on Chincoteague Island this weekend and we had a front row seat last night to the Antares Rocket Launch supply mission for the International Space Station.

Skies were clear..... full moon..... we could see the ground fire, lift off and it flew right over us.

I’d rather be lucky than good any day....

Pretty dang cool!!! [emoji106]Attachment 26471
Attachment 26472
Attachment 26473

Sweet.

[The_Breeze]

Originally Posted by Popfla

We were camping at Jetty Point Park in Cape Canaveral a year or two ago, and at 2-something in the morning we were awakened by rumbling that shook the motorhome and a bright light that was brighter than daylight. We had forgotten that a Falcon9 rocket was launching from the Cape. The rumble was strong enough that vehicle alarms were going off all around us. Cool experience!

You forgot? Bummer. You could have been like Judge.

[TripleGGG]

That's awesome. I watched it live on YouTube. I would have preferred your view!

[EA37TS]

When I was on active duty stationed in El Paso we always had the shuttle transports land for refueling and crew rest during their cross country flights. It was impressive to see that shuttle strapped to the 747 during take off and landing.

[Bob Denman]

We were at the Cape when Apollo 8 launched (back in 1968).
I still remember how the ground shook from that launch!

[Judge]

So I was really lucky this year......

We are down at our home in Cape Coral, FL now that camping season is over up north. I’m about 200 miles southwest of Cape Canaveral and I just went outside and could see the SpaceX rocket launch at Cape Canaveral from outside my front door.

I was fortunate the skies were clear and I could see the red fireball streaming up into the sky for quite a while. I didn’t have a front row seat like I did in Virginia back in early October but this was still very cool!

That’s two rocket launches in about 6 weeks I got to see after waiting my whole life to just see one! [emoji106]

[atreis]

That is VERY cool! I'd love to see just one ...

[16ACE27]

Originally Posted by atreis

That is VERY cool! I'd love to see just one ...

Get in you RV and come on down to Florida. You can get the launch schedule off NASA's website. The map below shows the launchpads locations and the red arrows point to causeways and roadside places that you can park your RV for a launch, people do it for every launch. Back in the 80's we used to sail up the Banana Rived to the NASA causeway to watch shuttle launches, other anchored on the India River. After the Challenger accident they pushed the line back almost to the 528/A1A causeway, it's actually the powerlines just north of that causeway, but the few from that causeway is great and you can feel the sound of the launch as well.

[16ACE27]

Shuttle launch from the deck of my sailboat in the 80s

[Popfla]

Originally Posted by Judge

I was fortunate the skies were clear and I could see the red fireball streaming up into the sky for quite a while.

We live about 40 miles west of the Cape. Tonight's launch was very clear and visible long enough that we could see the first stage engine cutoff followed by the second stage lighting up. All from our front yard. (Picture is sideways; why does that happen??)

[Lt Keefer]

Back in the 80s when I was stationed at MBAFB, we deployed a couple of times to Patrick AFB for range safety in support of shuttle launches. There is nothing like watching human engineering being launched into space. If you have not seen one, put it on your bucket list. You will not be disappointed.

[atreis]

Someday.... I don't have a lot of vacation time for making the trip, and am generally restricted on when I can travel due to other work requirements.

[JamieGeek]

Waay back in my youth we were staying in FL at our family condo. A NASA admin happened to be staying there and told us how to get "up close" to a shuttle launch. (Basically write your congressman and ask.)

So I wrote a letter and received a pass to get on the causeway for the launch of STS-3. We flew down the night before; got up really early and got in line at the gate to get in (we were about the 3rd or 4th car behind the gate). When they opened the gate it was like a race: "Go!". Found our spot and waited....

We were about 3 miles away.

[16ACE27]

Tonight's Starlink Satellite launch as see from DeLeon Springs just northwest of Daytona:

[Bob Denman]

When they have Starlink up and running at 100%: you can say that you remember when they were just strange lights in the sky...