The Launch!

I made a good choice going with a tour company because the whole experience from pick up at my hotel to drop off was smooth and worry-free.

We had three hours to explore Kennedy Space Center before the launch and I was really impressed. New exhibits for future projects like this lunar module were done to full scale with the creative process all laid out. The spacesuits are attached to the outside so that the astronauts just slip into them.



Each building had a different theme with cool interactive displays. This was the 'future explorers' but they also had NASA history with a mock up of the real ground control and real artifacts of past missions.



The Rocket Garden beat the hell out of any normal garden.



We could also tour a full sized shuttle. There was a cool simulated launch that really made you feel like you were getting the 'G-force' and I'm not sure how, but I felt weightless when we hit orbit. Best diet ever!




So about about two hours before the launch, millions of us trooped out to the causeway, which is six miles from the shuttle, in long lines of buses

As a special treat, the space station flew overhead minutes before the launch and the crowds burst out into cheers as it traveled inches from the moon in the sky.

Then the count down. First, we could see the smoke and then the entire sky lit up as if it were on fire. The roar and rumble hit next and everyone started shouting and thousands of cameras started clicking.






This is the NASA photo of the twilight launch as my photos sucked.