posted 04-09-2004 04:18 PM            

I arrived at KSC just before 8.30am. Traffic queues were building up on the approach to KSC due to tourists expecting to get to the visitor centre which was closed for launch. I was waved through and soon arrived at a busy press site after two security checks. I immediately went to the news centre building and 'signed in'.

I also 'signed on' for the astronaut walkout. About forty of us boarded a bus provided by NASA which set off for the operations and checkout building in the KSC Industrial Area. We were taken off the bus in groups of ten and had to line up with camera equipment/bags at our feet. A security guard with a 'sniffer' dog checked our belongings before we could proceed to the area outside the building from which the STS-94 crew would appear.

It was a forty-five minute wait in the hot Florida sun. The crew were due to appear at 10.30am and as that time got closer things started to get busier. Lots of KSC employees appeared to see the crew - security people (several armed with sub machine guns) were present and a helicopter circled overhead. I got myself positioned just opposite and to the left of the door from which the astronauts would exit. The official NASA cameraman was just to the right of me. The astronauts appeared on time and within a minute were in the astronaut van heading for the pad.

It was then back aboard the bus for the trip back to the press site. About three hours before launch I spent a fair amount of time in the NASA news centre, which with a Shuttle launch imminent was quite, busy. I picked up more NASA literature and photos on the mission and other projects and met and talked with several contacts. TV screens were present in the main building, at the 'grandstand' facing the pad and in the auditorium next door. Audio from NASA TV and later mission control was also broadcast externally around the press site. The news centre was revamped in late 1995 and is an impressive building to visit. They have lots of stunning photos displayed on the walls - most presented to NASA by press photographers.

As the countdown clock clicked away I thought about the best location from which to watch the launch. The grandstand gave a good bit of height but metal columns could easily get in the way as could the roof when the shuttle gained altitude.

I decided to stay on the ground and eventually picked a spot just to the right of the large countdown clock by the edge of the barge turn basin.

Nothing between me and Columbia but water, wildlife and the emergency rescue crews!

A thunderstorm hit the pad and press site at 12.00 - it was black, windy and very wet. I was certain that the launch would be called off. However the rain passed and soon the hot Florida sun was shining down on us again. I had my binoculars with me and so had good views of the Shuttle on the pad. The RSS hid Columbia from view from this location - in order to see the orbiter I would have had to have been south of the pad but that would have placed me on the NASA causeway eight miles from pad A rather than the four miles for the press site.

The crew hatch was shut at 12.35pm. The weather still was not all that promising. Bob Cabana was flying the STA near the Shuttle Landing Facility and reported that storm clouds were building. The T-9 planned hold was extended due to a rain shower near the SLF but soon it was gone and the 'go for launch' announcement was made. For the first time it actually looked as if STS-94 was going to launch!

I got myself in position near the countdown clock and listened to the audio as the countdown approached zero. I watched the 'beanie cap' move back from the ET through my binoculars. Soon I saw main engine ignition and seconds later SRB ignition and the Shuttle was on its way.

The vehicle had cleared the tower and started the roll manoeuvre before the sound of the launch arrived. The noise built quickly as Columbia raced towards space. All of a sudden a wall of noise hit me - it came as such a surprise I wasn't prepared for it and it nearly knocked me off my feet!

As the Shuttle gained altitude it appeared nearly overhead - this also surprised me as I had expected to be looking into the distance to see it. Before long the SRB's separated and I caught the sunlight glinting off the tumbling boosters.

Columbia was soon in orbit and here I was still standing at the same spot where I saw the launch. The huge contrail still reached up into the sky but was beginning to dissipate in the wind. The launch structure was just visible.

Visually the launch was stunning but what I will remember more than anything else is that wall of noise which hit me. It wasn't deafening - it was alive! If this is what a Shuttle does I would have loved to have seen and heard a Saturn V launch!

I would recommend that anyone interested in space make the effort to visit KSC to watch a launch. It was unbelievable. A fantastic day, one which I will never forget.

posted 04-09-2004 04:44 PM               

I did have a great trip though!

see: www.geocities.com/tegwilym/ksc

Shuttle: 1
Tom: 0

posted 04-09-2004 07:04 PM            

The sort of thing that could easily change a kids life.... and did.

I give talks to all ages of school kids now and I tell them I couldn't imagine myself working in any career other than space.

Since then I've seen quite a few space and rocket missions, but none of them manned. I plan on changing that.

posted 04-10-2004 04:54 AM               

But wait! About 16 months before, we were playing in Santa Monica, CA, and I was walking around the site before a show... Then somebody shouted "What's that?!!!". A missile was clearly visible, rising from Vandenberg a few hundred miles from there: one of the missile-interception tests.

From that moment on, I did watch a website which kept track of upcoming launches, especially since I was soon due to spend a week driving up to San Francisco. A projected launch was scrubbed a few days before, and the update was not available on the site.

A few days later on a rainy day, I was walking out from a pizza joint in Santa Maria, towards my hideway for the night... I went to sleep early. The morning after, while buying breakfast, I checked the morning issue of the local paper: "Succesfull Launch of a Missile Interceptor Last Night". There had been a night launch a few dozen miles from where I was sleeping... I had missed it!

Ah well... I made up for it later in Florida!

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François Guay
Collector of litterature, notebooks, equipment and memories!

posted 04-10-2004 01:45 PM            

The MOD were test firing a small missile from their weapon testing range that was located there (not sure if it still is).
The idea was for the missile to launch out across the sea into Cardigan Bay. But,somehow the missile veered off course and went whizzing the wrong way (still seaward fortunately!) but just a mile or so offshore from the seaside where we were that summer- which was about 8 miles further up road from their site.

The locals in the pubs have these wonderful stories that some missiles ended up inland chasing the sheep ! Can't see that happening myself as range safety officer I'm sure would have exploded vehicle before then. But who knows ?

I've seen "bigger birds" launch since then of course including Saturn V, Shuttle, Delta and a Polaris launch from USN George Washington.

The most exciting - only because of the proximity of just 80 feet behind a massive brick wall with viewports and massive ear defenders! - was at the UK facility where unused missile rocket motors are discharged after their shelf life is over. You could just feel that awesome power of the rocket engine when it ignited and when the waste exhaust gases and smoke started blowing round your jeans and up your nose ! Great !
I missed out on a SSME firing at Stennis a couple years back since our itenary took us onto NM that day :-(

The most unusual rocket firing I've seen was the UK Ion Motor test which was at Farnborough many years ago. I think this was the 'daddy' of the motor aboard SMART now ? I've got some techie papers on it somewhere which were given out that day to me and a group of others who saw it being tested.

Phill

posted 04-10-2004 04:26 PM               

wish had a came cordor or a decent camera then (using a throw away kind). jaw dropped as the shuttle was heading directly east starting over the Atlantic Ocean and how the whole area lite up simalr to a sunrise from the thrust of the rocke booster. A brief sunlight moment with the orange and yellow color then return to darkness.

Second STS-81 another night 4:30 am launch. went off timely

one landing. Glenn returning from STS-95

posted 04-10-2004 04:32 PM               

It took until my third trip to see a launch; STS-101 was scrubbed three times in a row (a first for the shuttle). Finally saw STS-100 and shuttle Endeavour take off from the press site April 19, 2001, as a student reporter for my high school. It disappeared behind a cloud which was hovering right over us, so I only got to see a 25 second launch. But it was the best 24 hours of my life up to that point! The night before I got to go to the pad at sunset to watch the tower roll back, and then see the crew walkout in the morning.

It's an experience which you can't appreciate until you actually do. Since then I was lucky to see Columbia launch on it's final two missions, STS-109 and 107. 109 was the best of the three shuttle launches I have seen; a beautiful launch just 30 minutes before sunrise. And 107 was crystal clear; as I wrote in a Florida Today article on February 1st, 'it was as if nature was ready to send Columbia on one final, perfect liftoff."

With the Columbia accident I decided not to 'deprive' myself of launches and go to an ELV. So starting March 31 of last year with a Delta-2 GPS launch, I've seen eight more rockets go off; number nine comes this Thursday night. It was a thrill to watch Spirit head to Mars on a crowded, hot-hazy beach day; and to watch SIRTF shoot into orbit for my first ever nighttime launch.

The unmanned launches don't compare to the shuttle, but they are still thrilling. As one good friend put it, "ELV's are fun" and you don't have to worry on launch day.

posted 04-10-2004 08:37 PM               

Internet media was still considered "vanity press" by NASA at that time and the sight of digital cameras was a rarity along the line of photographers gathered at the top of a mound of dirt -- the makeshift press site for the newly opened commercial launch site. I set up a Connectix QuickCam on a tripod and ran the feed to my laptop, a set-up that drew questions from those around me. I didn't know what to expect of the launch (other than what I had seen on TV) or whether the little consumer cam would capture anything. Complicating matters was that it was a night launch and so until just before the launch, I was finding it difficult to even find the launch pad to point the camera at.

At ignition, I completely forgot about the cam as I was taken back by how bright the sky became from this small commercial rocket. The whole launch flashed by very quickly. When I went to check the cam, I found that I hadn't captured very much, but what I did was later posted to the NSS website upon arriving back at the hotel.

I would return to the Cape that October to produce a much more professional webcast of the STS-95 launch on behalf of the NSS and with funding from Microsoft (a wonder what money can buy you). On that trip, I had a full camera crew, dedicated ISDN lines, and professional broadcast-quality cameras. Not only did our webcast stream the launch to thousands of people online but our feed was "borrowed" by CNN and MSNBC when their own webcasts were overloaded.

I am told STS-95 was like being at the Cape for the launch of Apollo 11, sans Saturn V. Hundreds of reporters, millions of people lining the beach, and that buzz of excitement that just ignites everyone around you. Though LP was my first, STS-95 will always be my favorite as it was narrated live at my side by PS Charlie Walker. My only regret is that with the professional camera crew rolling, my own personal camera's batteries died 3-seconds into the launch.

posted 04-10-2004 08:45 PM               

The only manned launch I have seen is STS-93 (and as a result almost got to see the first RTLS about, which I am happy I didn't experience). But it was at 2am or so and was so surreal. It was spectacular.

My primary contact at Fox saw Apollo 15, 16 and 17... and when he mentions it I assure you I respond in only the most negative of terms.

Instead of uttering the words "Rosebud" upon my death I suspect I shall say "Saturn V," as I will never get to see one go.

posted 04-11-2004 12:14 PM               

Others have described the wall of sound very well. I recall being amazed at the brightness of the boosters! I was at the VIP site about 3.5 miles away from the pad, and it was lit up like daylight.

posted 04-11-2004 02:46 PM              

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Scott Schneeweis