Scrubbed

I picked the wrong night.

On a bit of a whim, I drove down to Titusville/Cape Canaveral early Sunday morning to see a nighttime launch of the space shuttle. Could be the last shuttle launch at night. Ever. Michelle stayed home because this basically meant pulling an all-nighter and sleep is more important to her right now. I'm no passionate fan of the space program, but how often do you get to see people blast off into orbit?

There were tens of thousands of people packed along the edge of US Highway 1 up and down the intercoastal waterway. From there, the sightlines to the launch pad were excellent. You could see the launch tower with the naked eye and the shuttle itself with a mediocre pair of binoculars. Launch was scheduled for 4:39 am. I arrived around 3.

Picture the most crowded fireworks display you've ever attended and multiply that by 10. I use fireworks display as an example because that is essentially what people were there to see. People were camped out, cars packed 10 deep off the grassy edge of the highway, vendors selling popcorn and boiled peanuts. I stopped at a gas station to use the restroom and had to wait for 30 minutes.

After using the bathroom, I found an abandoned concrete pier that hadn't been completely occupied and I got out to the end of it about 1 hour before scheduled launch time. Two Scotsmen sat down next to me and starting smoking pot like the end of the world was about to come. I had an absolutely perfect line of sight. I was all excited to make my own nifty little video of the launch with absolutely nothing in front of me but water. Once in a lifetime kind of thing here.

But they scrubbed it. With only 10 minutes left. Too many clouds.

They delayed the launch to this morning and had clear weather. I picked the wrong night.

I've still never seen a shuttle launch. Based on what people were saying around me about being that close to a nighttime launch, I really missed something special. I suppose that I could've driven down (2.5 hours one-way) yet again last night/this morning, but chances of good launch weather were only 60% today as opposed to 80% yesterday.

There are only 5 launches left before the shuttle becomes obsolete. Michelle and I will get to a successful launch while we are here in Florida.

Click here to see a video of launch this morning or here for an image gallery. It's amazing.