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.
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