photo by William Couch

Since I worked at Space Camp/Space Academy I got to see lots of launches, I’m guessing something like a dozen or so. And by far the best one was my first.

It was a night launch, as all the best ones are. We watched it from the west shore of the Indian River, about 10 miles from the launch pad. But due to some remarkable atmospheric conditions it was louder and more impressive than when I got to see a launch from the 3 mile mark.

What made this night launch so spectacular was a thin layer of clouds, more like a haze really, at low altitude. The clouds acted to reflect the light and sound back down to the ground and amplifying both. As the shuttle rose the brightness grew until it reached the layer of haze. At that point the light went out almost completely, absorbed, for just a flicker.

As the shuttle passed through and above the layer the light expanded out in a cone. From the point that the shuttle pierced the haze the light grew in a circle, very rapidly. It took less than a second for the cone of light to expand and in that moment everyone drew a breath. Light travels far to fast be be observed but the effect gave the illusion that we were watching light travel out to us.

And then came the sound. Low at first. It grew to a loud rumble and then when the solid rockets ignited the sound punched us. One could actually feel the SRBs starting up. And then the rumble, very low in pitch, grew so powerful that clothes shook. If you opened your mouth, which I’m sure everyone did in amazement, you could feel the vibrations in your lungs.

And then it passed. Out of site and sound.

polyGeek Life of a geek, Space Shuttle