On about five hours of sleep, John and I headed up the coast to Titusville last night to watch the STS-123 night launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor. We stayed overnight in Sebastian, an hour away, and so we drove up to and arrived on the shoreline about forty minutes before launch. We found parking and a very good spot precariously perched between a palm tree and the rather fetid swamp along the shoreline in Titusville.
But you don’t really care about that, right? What you want to know is whether we saw the launch, and if it was really as amazing as people say.
Yes, on both counts.
See for yourself.
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(Click here if the player doesn’t work for you.)
Note that this video has been edited to move the launch sound up by a full minute, to coincide with the visual. In reality, the sound arrives a minute later, but I shortened it because otherwise you’re watching a dark screen and just listening to a distant rumble. If you want to see the whole thing, delayed audio and all, check out the un-manipulated video at NowPublic.com.