Cape Canaveral Things to Do Tips by VA_Dave

Go! Go! Go!

At first the shuttle rocket exhaust was in the shadow. The crowd was still silent as the roar of the rocket reached us. It was hard to believe that there were actually people onboard

Waiting in swamp for launch

You buy an advance ticket for $15 and that gets you to a swamp about 6 miles from the launch pad. For tickets http://www.store.yahoo.com/kennedyspacecenter/index.html

Most of the viewers were not from the US (all good Americans were at Disney world?) It was mission STS-98 bound for the Space Station

http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/shuttle/summaries/sts98/index.htm

Remnants of the shuttle vapor trail

Even after the shuttle was long gone, the vapor trail hung in the sky and changed colors as it drifted apart. The shuttle bus driver who took us to and from the launch viewing area said he had seen almost 100 launches and this one was probably the most beautiful!

Unfortunately there was a 2+ hour traffic jam getting back to the main highway after the launch, and I barely made it down to Key Largo to go scuba diving , but that is another story.

Vapor trail hits the sunlight

Suddenly the vapor trail hits the sunlight high above the earth and it forms a rainbow of colors. Everyone around me was speechless!

Blast off!

The launch pad is hard to identify from 6 miles away, but as soon as the shuttle lifts off there is not doubt where it is, and the crowd grows silent