Night launches are so cool.

Of the ~11 space shuttle launches I made it to, one was a night launch and one was just pre-dawn.

Indescribably epic, especially from the VAB (three miles).

To paraphase a Southwest Airlines employee I took to the countdown clock for the 2nd to last launch, in 2011...

JP, in my business we manage passengers, luggage, flight loads, fuel, and a bit of lift, thrust, and fight gravity and drag.

You guys sit there, for all mankind, and push a button that says to all... frick GRAVITY!

I grew up in Cocoa Beach. Until the movie the Right Stuff came out I never realized Alan Shepard, John Glenn & the boys were famous. Cocoa Beach was a very small town in the 60s and to us they were just neighbors.

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Also, did they ALL own corvettes, or just some?

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Some owned GT 350s and 289 Cobras. Ray Hunt Ford,in Daytona, was the southern distributor for Shelby American.

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Cute story, and WOW on that experience. But I gotta tell ya... if you went from the earyl-1960s to early 1980s not realizing that the dudes who flew in space, walked on the moon, and got ticker-tape parades on Broadway "weren't famous".. well, pick up a magazine, my friend!

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We knew they were famous but not how famous. John Glenn & Scott Carpenter spoke at our boy scout troop. Some of them spoke at our school. I think the Satelite Hotel was the only restaurant on the island at the time, we would see a bunch of astronauts eating Sunday dinner there all the time. They were basically neighbors for all we knew.

The stage 1 return to the pad amazes me every time. So cool

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Also, did they ALL own corvettes, or just some?

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I had dinner with Walt Cunningham, Apollo 7 astronaut, in 2018. 83 years old and when we left the restaurant what does the valet pull up in for him to drive?

A C7 Z06 Corvette, of course. Dude is gonna bad arse to the very end.

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The a grand tour guys did an AWESOME piece on the astronaut cars, here you go (it’s only a piece of it):

LINK

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That was cool...

Just in case anybody is ever on Florida's east coast on a launch day the best place to view a launch in my opinion is Titusville. From Orlando you head east on Hwy50 until it dead ends at US1. Turn left and go about 1/2 mile. You can park along the highway in several locations. Straight across the Indian River you can see the launch pad. At night it is lit up and easy to spot.

We used to watch the Shuttle launches from there. You are about 2 or 3 miles from the pad and the river is all that is in your way. When they light up the engines at night it is like instant daylight. About 3 seconds later you see the shock wave coming across the river and the ground starts to shake. A second or two later you start to hear the rumble of the rocket engines. Next to wild kinky sex it is about the greatest feeling known to man.

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Last nights falcon 9 launch. I'm pissed because I didn't even know there was a launch last night until the sky lit up. Falcon 9 don't light it up like the Shuttle used to but still cool. Haven't seen a Falcon Heavy launch yet but I bet it will be much like the Shuttle.

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Was able to see 2 night launches while living in Florida. We would grab a 6'er of natty ice/Miller, then head to Satellite beach, relax on the beach and enjoy the shite beer and the launch.

We watched a night launch from our cruise ship this past December. Pretty cool.