From: rbeck@mordor.dseg.ti.com (Ron Beck)
Newsgroups: sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: To view or not to view ...
Date: 4 Sep 92 15:21:32 GMT
Reply-To: rbeck@mordor.dseg.ti.com
Distribution: usa
Organization: When I get time...

In article <1992Sep02.020437.3543@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu>, ghasting@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu (George Hastings) writes:
|>    The CLOSEST viewing area is (I think) the press area, right
|> next to the VAB where they stack the shuttles. It's just about
|> two miles from there to either pad 39A or 39B (a little farther
|> to 39B)
|>    The next closest site is a V.I.P. viewing area across the
|> lagoon, and I think it's about 2.5 miles. The NASA Causeway is
|> another viewing site, just a little more distant.
|>    From ANY of those sites, the Orbiter, ET, and SRBs look
|> incredibly far away and very small, even through binoculars.
|> You might think at this point, "JEEZ! It wasn't WORTH it,
|> coming all this way: I could have seen it on NASA SELECT
|> better, with its closeup TV cameras"
|>    You'd be WRONG! As the final countdown is underway, and each
|> step is announced on the loudspeakers, the tension builds. When
|> they get down to the famous "5-4-3-2-1-0, We have LIFTOFF!" It
|> is an experience you'll NEVER forget (or EVER expeience by
|> watching from anywhere else) 
|>    The huge cloud of white steam from the sound - suppression
|> flooding of the pad explodes from undet the shuttle, blocking
|> you view of it for a second or two, and you think, "OHMYGOD! Is
|> it O.K.?" The orange of the SRB flames lights up the steam
|> cloud from inside, and the shuttle erupts from the expanding
|> cloud on a pillar of flame that is SOOOOO BRIGHT your eyes
|> involuntarily squeeze themselves into a squint, and the shuttle
|> rises in dead silence for a few more seconds until the sound
|> finishes rushing across the remainin distance from the pad to
|> your viewing site.
|>    The ROAR of the SRBs and main engines smashes into you as a
|> shock wave, breaking across the area like a tidal wave of the
|> most incredible noise. It is so loud that you can bellow at the
|> top of your voice at somebody standing a few feet away from
|> you, and they will not be able to hear you. Your heart is
|> pounding and you realize that you're breathing rate has
|> doubled. The sub-aural frequencies of the rocket roar grab your
|> guts, and you can feel them trembling in harmony inside your
|> rib cage. Tears of intensity are probably streaming down your
|> face by now and you watch the sun-bright SRB flames cataput the
|> shuttle upward with surprising speed.
|>    If the day is clear, it is easy to see SRB SEParation 2
|> minutes and 7 seconds into the flight, and you can see the
|> flames fade and tail off as the SRBs begin their long drop back
|> to the ocean about a hundred miles offshore. Within a few
|> seconds your attentionis back of the dwindling bright spot of
|> twinkling light that marks the flames of the shuttle main
|> engines. 
|>    You'll strain to keep that fading spark in sight as long as
|> possible as it approaches the horizon, curving off and around
|> the Earth. Is it worth the drive?
|>    Yeah, I'd say so! It may be absolutely the most awesome, all
|> engulfing experience you can have out of bed!
|> -- 

Thank you for the wonderful description.  I have a scanned image of a
shuttle takeoff as my system's root picture.  Reading the description
while looking at the picture made me feel almost like I was there. 
Someday maybe I'll get to see a few launches.  But for now I'll hold
on to the description.

Thanks.
Ron
-- 
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Ronald J. Beck           | IP rbeck@mordor.dseg.ti.com |Do now what others
Member, Group Tech Staff | MaBell (214) 952-4566       |won't so you can do
Texas Instruments        |                             |later what others
McKinney, Texas          |                             |can't
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