T minus one minute, thirty seconds. The pink has mostly faded to daylight in the sky, but there are still deep shadows inside the pad structure. Dawn isn't for another twenty minutes. Final check of SRB steering commands. Computer handoff from the ground to the orbiter at T minus 31 seconds.
People begin counting under their breath.
Minus 10, and the sparklers light off to burn off any stray hydrogen. Minus 6, main engine start. They go steady and hot almost immediately, almost eagerly. The sudden brilliance drowns out the xenons, seems even to scare the sun back down a few degrees. Certainly it gets darker as she clears the tower and pulls away.