Shuttle Launch (updated with pics)

"Really badly", yes!  So much so I'm ALSO now considering taking the whole family back down for the final launch in June so they can get a chance to see it.  We're looking into getting my wife's flight to Chicago changed to depart from Orlando.  Don't know yet, still thinking about it.  I'm still likely to go down this weekend as a backup plan to be sure I see it in case the summer trip doesn't work out.

Not too worried about sleeping in the van, I've done it before and it will be no different than sleeping in my tent out in the woods.  A little nicer actually since the floor is perfectly flat.  I'll have my camping gear which is fairly comfortable.  Good idea on the shower, rpodcamper.  I'll be close to 95 so there must be one somewhere.

Have a safe trip!  Hope it works out this time for you.

So far so good.  I arrived on schedule around 9 tonight.  I'm currently "camped" on the side of US Rt. 1 just south of Titusville.  I could see the shuttle and vehicle assembly building across the water from where I sit in my van if it weren't for a row of palm trees.  But I can walk 30 feet to the water's edge and have a great night view there - spotlights are hitting the shuttle in all directions.  I'll be up early tomorrow to stake a spot on the water's edge just up the road (the palm trees will block my view upward if I stay here).  They are supposed to have made a decision at 11 to fill the fuel tank but I don't see anything on their web site yet.  Talk later!

Will we see picts once you get back.  I sure hope so.

Happy Podding

Back home safe last night around midnight.  I was going to stay the night somewhere in a truck stop or rest stop, but once I did the math I realized if I pushed on I could get a shower and sleep in my own bed.  I could go on and on and get really boring with all the details, but I think what I told my wife last night sums it up.

It was 28 hours of driving with the most exciting 15 seconds of my life in-between.

Nope, not kidding, it was SO worth it.  Unfortunately there was a layer of clouds at 5000 feet so from launch to the point it disappeared was a whole 15 seconds, but I don't regret it.  Definitely going to try to take the family back for Atlantis.  Now it is scheduled for "early July", with no firm date yet.

I promise pictures!  There are so many from the 3 trips that I think I'll start with the "money shots" from this last trip.  I'm going to sort out the best half-dozen at work tomorrow (and reduce their size, they are up to 2 GB each).  Then I need to sort through the rest of the pics.

In the words of Apollo 14's Alan Shepard "...it's been a long way, but we're here."