sts130 space shuttle endeavor launch. monday morning, february 8, 2010 at 4:14 am. this is the last scheduled night launch for the shuttle. if there is a delay, one of the 4 remaining shuttle missions could become a night launch. i recorded this from titusville, florida. it is from intersection of us 1 and florida 50. the 1st attempt was saturday night (ok, sunday morning) 2-7-10 at 4:39 am. they scrubbed that attempt at 4:30 am due to low clouds. they need to be able to see the shuttle with ground based cameras to check for damage during launch.
thousands of people were lined up and down the highway to watch. it took 2 and a half hours to get back to orlando, which is a little over 50 miles away. i came back the following night and got to see the launch. still very crowded, but i got a better parking spot and made it back in 90 minutes. long night with little sleep, but definitely worth the 2 trips. this was my 1st time to see a launch. i saw a day launch of an atlas V rocket a few days later. it was cool, but nowhere near as good as the night launch. everything stops for the night launch. no traffic noise. the day launch was kind of drowned out by highway noise. note that it takes about 1 minute before you can hear the sound of the rocket. we were about 12 miles away. sound travels at a speed of 1 mile every 5 seconds.
Amazing video - thanks!
drrtm 2 years ago