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Shuttle Launch
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27-02-2009 10:50pm#1I'd like to share with you an experience I had last November in Florida. I travelled over to witness the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. The shuttle programme began on April 12th 1981, this launch was the 124th launch, and in that time there were two disasters, Challenger on January 28th 1986 and Columbia on February 1st 2003.
The general public get to view the launch from about 12 miles away along the Indian River. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to view from inside the Kennedy Space Centre from about 6 miles. Nobody can view from closer that 3 miles and for a very good reason, the shuttle has the explosive power of a nuclear bomb while on the pad.
To get a good spot you need to stake a claim to a position hours before, so I arrived with my camping chair, book and mp3 player 8 hours prior to launch. A large TV screen was set up to give full coverage of the countdown in the hours before so we could follow what was going on. 3 and a half hours to go and the astronauts are strapped in and the hatch closed. Two hours prior to launch and it started to get dark, this was going to be a night launch. As the final countdown began a large crowd had gathered at the viewing site. T- 9 minutes, final checks are under way at launch control. I check my camera and make sure I have spare batteries. T – 5 minutes getting close now, onboard fuel cells started to provide electricity for the orbiter during its flight. T- 3 minutes engine steering and orbiter flight control systems are checked. T – 1 minute, I’m in the unreal stage, could this really happen? I have planned this trip for many years and know that over 50% of all launches are delayed for one reason or another. Would my luck hold? T-31 seconds, looking good now as Endeavours computers take over control of the final countdown. There are so many systems to check and monitor now that humans cannot do it fast enough so the computers make the decisions. T- 10 seconds 9,8,7,6 command given for the shuttles 3 main engines to start. They start at 6 seconds before launch in order to have time to reach 100% thrust, computers check that they have reached 100% and are running normally, if not launch is aborted as has happened many times in the past.
Einstein was right about time being relative, the next 6 seconds take an eternity 3…people start to stand up…2…I’m on my feet camera ready…1, the time has arrived at last, I have waited 24 years for this very moment. 0….onboard computers send the firing command to the shuttles 2 solid rocket boosters. 7 million pounds of thrust is released as the shuttle lifts off the pad. The sky lights up like a brilliant sunrise.
By the time the shuttle clears its launch tower it is already travelling in excess of 100 miles per hour. What a sight! It climbs quickly into the night sky like a huge ball of fire. TV views and photos come now where near showing the reality of it, it is incredible, The flames are bright orange not white as the TV images show.
Within 40 seconds it breaks the sound barrier. Slowly you start to hear the sound. Light travels faster that sound so you see it before you hear it, a deep rumble in the sky, like velvet being ripped, it seems to be tearing the sky apart, then you feel it first in the ground as it shakes beneath you and then the sound waves hit you in the chest. It’s like someone slapping you or drumming you on the chest.
At 2minutes 11 seconds you see a flash as the boosters fall away to land in the Atlantic.
The sky was cloud free so I was able to watch it all the way to engine shutdown at 8 minutes 20 seconds. The shuttle was then 150 miles high and 1000 miles out over the Atlantic travelling at 17500 miles per hour that’s 5 miles per second. Amazing that you could still see the engines when it was 1000 miles away. 5 minutes later it passed the south coast of Ireland and 75 minutes after that it was back over Florida. 90 minutes to circle the planet.
What an experience, what a night! There is something amazing about watching people leave the palanet. Pity it took 3 hours to drive back to the hotel just 8 miles away.
If you ever get the chance to see a launch….Go!0
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