After nearly a year and a half I finally got a vacation. After that long, I really can’t recommend honeymooning in February and using the only week of vacation at your disposal. It was a family trip to Cocoa Beach in Florida. Even though I didn’t fly while I was there, which I wanted to do but never got a chance to, there was a lot of fun aviation stuff going on while I was there. Most notably, there was a rocket launch and the Space Shuttle Atlantis returned.
The rocket launch was everything I’d hoped it would be. Unfortunately, it looked like we were going to miss it. It was pushed back a day, scrubbed at the last second on the second attempt, but finally on the third try it launched. It was pretty spectacular. It lit up the entire sky and about 3 to 4 seconds later a very obvious rumble could be heard. All that from a little ballistic missile turned rocket with boosters. Sadly, there was a bit of cloud cover that masked the booster separation, but it was great anyway. I’d love to see a shuttle launch.
Speaking of shuttles, Atlantis returned on Wednesday. The last time we were down that way, we heard a shuttle landing. I’m told that’s pretty routine. We were exceptionally lucky this time however in that we heard and saw the landing. We were going to Kennedy Space Center that day, so we ventured into Titusville and parked at Kennedy Point Park. It is right on the water almost directly across from the Shuttle Landing Facility. There was a pretty decent sized crowd gathered. Happily, there was a slightly hazy, but suitable view of the SLF. Unfortunately, I’m not equipped for particularly long range media creation, so I did the best I could with what I had. We heard the booms and then, after what felt like forever, we could see the shuttle on final approach right up to touchdown.
The best part was later in the day we took the bus tour at Kennedy, which is a must if you go to the visitors center. The route to the second stop takes you directly by the Orbiter Processing Facilities and the Shuttle Landing Facility. It takes you so close in fact that if you time it right (like we did) you will get stopped in order for the shuttle to be towed to the OPF. They tow it right down the middle of the road and with a little bit of crowd negotiation on the bus, you can get a pretty good look at the shuttle.
Now, all that is exciting and I really loved it, but I’d like to say the whole trip would have been worth it to me if all I had seen the entire week was the yellow Cub towing banners.
Here’s a collection of photos from the trip for your enjoyment.
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- This plane kept flying over us before the shuttle landing, so I took a picture of it.
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- What could quite literally be Atlantis on its ‘final approach.’
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- Atlantis landing from across the water.
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- Another photo of Atlantis landing from Kennedy Point Park in Titusville.
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- This is the only time I recall being happy to get stopped by the police.
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- This makes me happy.
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- They actually tow the shuttles down a short segment of the road to the OPF.
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- This is pretty much as close as non-VIP/employees can get.
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- As we drove by there was time for a few more photos.
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- My dream job: flying a yellow Cub, towing banners up and down the beach.
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- Photography Tip: Use long exposures for night launches.
