Shuttle Launch (updated with pics)

Misadventures can be the best adventures of all.  

This has certainly been an adventure and will be great conversation for the rest of our lives.  I do not look forward to paying for the adventure, though.  We spent today going back to KSC to do the Astronaut Hall of Fame.  It was included with the tickets we had last week but just didn't have the time to fit it in, so we got AHF-only tickets for today (cha-ching).  A really great collection of artifacts and stuff for the kids.  We also went back to Downtown Disney this evening to get a sweatshirt my wife wanted but didn't get last time (cha-ching), then went back to our hotel for dinner (cha-ching).  We've extended our hotel reservation for Sunday night (cha-ching).  I think tomorrow we are going to spend the day at the pool here and wait for the news from NASA if Monday is a "go" or not.  Last word on the Shuttle update page on NASA's site is they are currently inside the rear of the Orbiter troubleshooting.  If it can be fixed for a Monday launch it will go up at 2:44 pm and we'll leave right from there to then drive all night so I can drop my wife at work by 9 am.  Then I'll drop our kids at school late and I'll go home to crash.  If they schedule the launch for another day we'll go home first thing Monday and drive all day getting home around 10 or 11 pm.  Then we'll plan on being back down here this summer for the final Shuttle launch... take three. 

... and home again.  They've now said the earliest a launch would happen is the 8th so we are headed home tomorrow.  Don't know if we'll be back in a week, or if we'll wait for the final launch this summer.  

The biggest question mark is getting my wife out of work - at this point any day off for this "mission" is unpaid, but her boss seems flexible in at least granting the time off.  So that would be a point in favor or waiting until this summer since she isn't getting paid then anyway.  But, I would really like to see this shuttle go up.  Its the one we saw on the pad when we did the KSC tour 1 1/2 weeks ago and of course the one we've expected to see go up all along... but seeing the last one go up would be just as cool.

You have a great point about the bleepin heat in summer.  We were there in July 3 years ago for Disney and I would love to avoid that (but its the same heat/humidity we have at home so not an insurmountable problem).  My bigger worry is since it would be the last flight there could be a million people there all over the place.  They said last Friday's attempt drew an unusually large crowd of 750,000 which wasn't too bad in-person since everyone was spread out over many miles.  If we have to deal with that, we will.  A big problem with waiting until summer is my wife is going to a teacher's conference in Chicago for a week starting June 30th and the current target date for the Shuttle is June 28th.  No wiggle room there!

You must want to go really badly if you are willing to go solo this trip!  Not to mention sleeping in the van.  Enjoy . . . and bring back pics.