February 7, 2008 - Orlando, FL
I admit to being reluctant to give up a day of birding on the long chance of a shuttle launch. The weather was marginal - the odds sank to 20% or less for a while, but we headed to the west end of the causeway, overlooking the Indian River and, about 7 miles away, NASA Launchpad 39-B. We arrived at 10:30 AM and took the last parking slot in the area. Then it was a long hot wait, combined with a slow-motion race against the incoming thunderstorms.
But at 2:30 PM it was clear it was going to happen, and at 2:45 PM we watched our first shuttle launch. The offshore wind carried the noise away, leaving only a distant rumble, but the sight was all you could hope for.
The whole launch took about 3 minutes, and after that it was getting away through the 50,000 other vehicles that had been watching. It took more than two hours to get to I-95, a distance of maybe four miles. It took four hours to drive to the Florida 50, the Beachline Freeway, and fight our way to Orlando. The traffic finally let up at the Orlando city limits.
