Now I can see why. From three miles, the Space Shuttle was so loud, it left my ears ringing afterwards for about an hour. It was easily as loud as a jackhammer. When the Shuttle cleared the pad, the flames from the Solid Rocket Boosters were so bright, my pupils contracted enough to make the background sky look no longer blue, but black. The most vivid sensory assault, though, was touch.
All rockets make a deep, low-frequency rumbling, a, unearthly sound, more felt than heard.
The Shuttle is no exception, but imagine this outclassing the sound of a jackhammer. I put my hand outside the open window of the van, from which I was watching, and tried to hold the binoculars steady. This was impossible, because the whole door of the van was shaking vigorously, along with the whole van. The solid fuel burns unevenly, in lumps, which made a most distinctive shaking. Astronauts say it feels like a rough train ride, and now I see it must be very rough indeed.