We did see a shuttle launch several years ago when we were driving down the Florida Turnpike heading south to Lake Worth. A lot of cars had pulled off to the side of the road to watch the launch. It was quite impressive to view the shuttle lifting off even from that distance.
We ate an early lunch this morning and packed a cooler with water and snacks. A little before noon we drove over to the beach just across from the Main Gate at Patrick AFB . When we got to the beach we had no trouble finding a place to set up our chairs since only a few people were there ahead of us. We checked on ticket prices to watch the launch from the Space Center and the tickets cost from $41 to $59 a person, so we decided to watch from the beach.
We spent the time waiting for the launch just relaxing & enjoying the ocean view. The closer it got to launch time more and more people started coming to the beach and putting out their chairs or blankets. A young mother came with her 2 daughters & and an infant and set up her blanket near us. She was having a little trouble setting up her beach umbrella in the wind and Mike went over to help her. We enjoyed watching her daughters play in the sand and the ocean.
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| From Patrick AFB |
Since this was our first time to see a launch we weren't quite sure the exact location where the shuttle would launch from - we're about 24 miles south of Kennedy Space Center. We just watched the same area everyone was looking & at 2:20 p.m. ----
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| From Patrick AFB |
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| From Patrick AFB |
We were too far away to hear the sound of the launch - the wind was blowing from the east so any sound was carried away from us. But the launch was still very impressive and it was thrilling to be even this close.
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