From: David Mann
On Feb 10, 2010, at 3:16 AM, John Sessoms wrote:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jb_sessoms/4343626108/sizes/o/
I wouldn't mind seeing one of those in person too. The noise must be
something incredible if they let you get close enough.
Dave
The sound was not as loud as I thought it would be. Not nearly as loud
as I remember the Apollo launch and I saw that from out at I-95.
Where I was positioned was about 12 miles from the actual launch pad.
My position, best I can locate it, was 28.564065, -80.798084.
Plug that number into Google maps.
The launch pad is at 28.626208, -80.620480 (or else it's the one just
south of there - there are two of them right together).
Zoom out just slightly, and to the north, going from Titusville into the
Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, is the A. Max Brewer Memorial
Pkwy. Just after you cross the bridge there's a boat launch area called
Parrish Park.
NASA closes off the wildlife refuge during the launches, but the place
they close it off is at 28.628510, -807987597.
I drove into the wildlife refuge about an hour after the launch and both
sides of the peninsula was filled with RVs, but the parking area around
the boat launch was mostly empty. I know they couldn't have all driven
in to there in the hour after the launch, so they had to be there before
the launch. That means the entire peninsula from the gate down to Parish
Park is open and it's a bit closer to the launch site, a couple of miles
at least.
If I go back to try for one of the daylight launches I think I'll get
situated along the A. Max Brewer Memorial Pkwy near Parrish Park.
Something amazing that I've never seen mentioned is you can follow the
shuttle all the way to orbit with the naked eye. All I've ever seen in
the press is the first phase just about to where the solid boosters cut
loose.
You can see that at night. To the naked eye it looked like two tiny red
dots descending from the still bright light of the main shuttle engines.
You could follow the shuttle by the light of the main engines until they
shut down once they'd achieved orbital velocity.
I had seen one previous launch from out on I-95; one of the Apollo
missions. I've been trying to figure out which one it was and think it
must have been Apollo 14. That was an incredible sight. And it *WAS* loud.
Hold your right hand out at arms length and spread your fingers slightly
so that the gap between the fingers is the same width as the fingers
themselves.
Watching from out on I-95, the height of the Saturn V was about the
width of my index finger. The flame lifting it up extended down as far
as my little finger; about six times the height of the rocket.
The more I think about it, I'm going to have to make time to go see at
least one more.
Should have made time for it years ago.
--
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