Watching Shuttle Launches in Central Florida

What a disappointment it was on Friday, November 14, 2008, for a whole group of us retirees to take a break in the bingo game at our clubhouse to go outside for the purpose of seeing the final night-time launch of the shuttle, and then with the cloud cover not being able to even see a streak of light in the night sky. We all came back inside extremely dejected that we weren't able to view this historic event.

It made me think about the many shuttle launches I have watched with my naked eye in the years that I have lived in Central Florida.

Sometimes I wait until the last minute watching the countdown on television (making sure there hasn't been a delay or a cancellation) to run outside and start looking toward the heavens and then marvel as I see the shuttle actually traveling at enormous speed right before my eyes, its "flaming tail" lingering behind it. What a sight to behold!!

It was a heartbreak, though, when I watched the first shuttle that disintegrated. I saw a big spray almost like fireworks only minutes after the launch, and I knew something was wrong because it was totally different from the other launches that I had witnessed. I hurried inside to the television to learn that, indeed, there was a tragedy that no one will ever be able to forget.

Although we don't always get to hear the return of the shuttle (if it doesn't come back to land in Florida), when it does and the "boom boom" of breaking the sound barrier is heard and even felt, giving us shivers along our spines, we can again watch the perfect landing on television.

Then we say a prayer of thanks that the crew has again managed to travel to such heights, manage their unbelievable amount of tasks and space walks, and come back safely to Mother Earth.

It never stops giving me awestruck moments to watch as the fiery arc goes through the sky and even see the booster rockets disengage and know that we earthlings can truly go off into space and accomplish all the feats that we have for so many long years.