My, my, my.

I just hope we can top this...

 

I did.

 

I forgot, and I was home for once...on vacation....damn...

 

i can usually see from outside on my deck but to much cloud cover today

 

I did, just before we left for Hippie Ridge.

Grand kids insisted.

 

It was way too cloudy where I live to watch it outdoors, so I had to watch it on TV instead. Oh well...At least all went well with this one.

 

i had a client i couldn't get rid of caused me to miss it

 

We went to New Smyrna Beach (just north of the Cape) and watched the liftoff from there. The cloud cover only allowed for a second of shuttle viewing but the sonic booms kept on for a good 3 minutes.

 

Damn work. I listened about it on the radio. A sad day for the shuttle program. Each shuttle was designed to make 100 trips and they barely made it over 30.

 

Always wanted to come over there and see one ever since watching Apollo's when I was a kid just never quite got around to it . Guess I'll be going to Russia for the next few years if I want to see something similar.

 

Here in the 'States, we call that a low blow.

My dad (Stoke-on-Trent) called it "barking a blokes' shins".

 

I saw it live on TV. Kind of sad but I guess our money needs to be invested elsewhere.

 

More like misappropriated elsewhere the way things are going. Just like we can build new roads in Iraq but it takes tollroads to get new roads built here.

Sorry Max, I had to vent.

 

Not intended to bark anyones shins - more just regret as I was hoping to make a trip to the States next year just left it too late . I suspect any replacement will not be anywhere near as spectacular - unless its a space elevator

 

I got to see the first shuttle take off after the Challenger Tragedy. I was at location that was supposed to be about as close as the general public could get.
It seemd almost like everybody was just holding their collective breaths when we all heard the fatefull words "Throttle up" come over the car radios.
To this day, it still remains the most stunning manmade phenomena I've ever seen and one that I will never forgot.

 

I got to see one several years ago and I have to agree with you. The sound from over a mile away was incredible. You could actually feel it. The collective elation for a flawless launch and feeling of pride in there country shared by thousands of viewers is something I will always remember.

From a speed junkies point of view that launch into space has to be the ultimate ride.

 

I watched live on TV. I have never seen a lift off in person but back in the '80's I did see Columbia land at Edwards AFB in CA. It landed on the 4th of July and on that day They unvieled Challenger and we got to see it leave Edwards ABF on top of a 747. Enterprise was also there and served as a back drop to Ronald Reagan's 4th of July speach. While the Enterpise never went into orbit it is now sad to think that the two operational shuttles I got to see were also the two that crashed.

 

I never got to see a launch in person, but did get to go on board several shuttles and part off the ISS. I worked for several suppliers for parts for the Space program. I got to go inside the Main fuel tanks for the shuttles, inside Mission Control several times. At the time, I didn't know what an honor I was given, but do now.

 

I saw one in 1991 from a second floor hotel room 12 or so miles away. It was a night launch and at that distance it was uncomfortably bright!

It took a long time for the sound to reach us, but it was louder than I'd expected it to be. The "crackling" sound was moving.

My sister watched CHallenger destruct from Venice, FL on the other coast. She was at work, they went outside and saw it rise above the horizon, then split into multiple trails that "looked all wrong". She remembers feeling a chill when a co-worker said, "I think we just watched some people die". They went inside and listened to the radio - knowing what they'd hear.